Many of us turned into “revolutionaries” this April. It required no protest marches, no dharnas, no violence, not even fasting. A mere click of the ‘Like’ button on the “India Against Corruption” Facebook page, a change of our profile picture into that of Anna Hazare’s, an updation of our “Status” message into “I support Anna” made each feel a part of the great movement. For many, just giving a missed call on 022-61550789 was enough to express their solidarity towards the movement. Anna Hazare fought, not just by fasting but also by ‘Facebooking’. It was the Internet & other communication tools that increased the voice of his anti-corruption movement. So powerful was this tool that within two days the members of the ‘India against corruption’ page increased from 5 lakhs to 12 lakhs. Some 7 lakh people showed their support by giving a missed call on a number texted to them. The revolution was “virtually there” for everyone to join in. It did not require physical presence; as long as you thought alike you could be a part of this ever increasing group, whenever you felt like, and could voice your opinions too on this “virtual” meeting place!

TWITTER - THE NEXT “NOBEL PEACE PRIZE” WINNER?

The last few days have witnessed a lot of revolutions around the world, many of which started “virtually” on the Internet. Today, the role of the social media has become more than just a place to catch up with old friends. Rather, it’s now a place where your voice can be heard – and if what you speak is sense, then there is no limit to the number of followers you can gather. Social media is now bringing about social change too.

Thousands of protesters gathered on the streets of Moldova in 2009 to protest against the communist government. Tunisia too overthrew its ruler in 29 days and many called it the “Twitter Revolution”. It was Twitter that gave protestors the courage to rock the Iranian government, and stand up for freedom and democracy. So overwhelmed was Mark Pfeifle, a former national security adviser, that he called for Twitter to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize! Twitter was helping in bringing like-minded people together – and in the case of India, also in staging a non-violent protest... just the way Gandhi did decades ago.

The invention of the printing press gave momentum to the French Revolution . For the first time, pamphlets could be printed in bulk and thoughts and ideas could be spread faster. The invention of Twitter and Facebook has given momentum to all recent revolutions. They have provided a voice that is impossible to censor and that can spread faster than lightening! The new age revolutions have become so big largely because of this digital revolution.

While it’s true that Twitter and Facebook are very important tools to spread information, the fact is, real change requires something more. It requires a true leader, who inspires a feeling of camaraderie, of brotherhood. It’s not just a voice, but a voice filled with passion. A true revolution is not about just the number of virtual “friends” who support you, but about those real people who are ready to die for you; it’s not about the number of “media tools” one has, but about the real ‘cause’ you stand for. As Malcolm Gladwell said, “Social media alone cannot provide what social change has always required.” Yes, it gives a voice to the powerless, but a voice needs a face, the face of a leader, who has the power to attract ‘real’ followers. The ‘Like’ button is a strong indicator of your potential, but for a revolution to reach its full potential, the ‘virtual’ voice needs to be backed by a ‘real’ one too. A great leader of tomorrow will be one who will have the maximum ‘Likes’ and “followers”, both in the virtual and the real world. Both grounds will be equally important .That will be the way to change tomorrow’s world.      Read More....

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
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It was an unforgettable moment of pride for all. That night of April 2, 2011 every Indian forgot his caste, creed, worries, tensions, apprehensions and rejoiced with his fellow countrymen as India won the ICC Cricket World Cup. It was a long wait of 28 years and victory never earlier had tasted so sweet. A big achievement for India and most importantly for its most amazing captain M. S. Dhoni. Fearless, confident, cool and unflappable. He drove in unlimited self-confidence into each player, and together the team conquered the world.

The man showed the world he doesn’t play by the rules – and India loved him for that. A captain like Dhoni and a tournament like the World Cup is a combination that doesn’t come too often and it made every marketer sit up and take action. With the whole nation glued to their TV sets, there was nothing more exciting an advertiser could have asked for. Along with the nation, every brand too was eating, sleeping, breathing and singing cricket. Every brand had jumped on to the cricket bandwagon.

With cricket and only cricket on everybody’s mind, most brands changed their advertising strategy to match the mood of the audience. Those who could afford to, roped in the cricketers to endorse their brands, while the numerous others changed their advertising themes, punchlines, promotional offers to match the cricket euphoria. As this was the best way to engage with the audience, Krishidhan, India’s 5th largest seeds company changed its tagline to “Beejon Ka Tendulkar”. DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund asked people to “Prepare your investment kit”. Style Spa introduced its “Hattrick offer”. Dr. Batra’s introduced its “Super Six Offer”. LIC doled out a slew of catchy slogans, each one reflecting the spirit of the game. From “Live life on the front foot” to “Great partnerships are built on trust”, each one showed how life & cricket were not very different from each other. Relating your brand to cricket was the best way to get noticed this time. Those who did have the means – like Revital, Oakley, etc – got a cricketer to endorse their brands. However, for some, in spite of spending so much and changing their advertising themes to cricket, the magic eluded them. Very few could reflect the passion for the game in a way that would get the viewers excited and involved. Research has shown that out of the hundreds who infused “cricket” into their marketing plans, only two brands stood out head over heels above others – Nike and Pepsi.

Much like its “Just do it” slogan, which caught the imagination of youngsters across the world, Nike’s “Bleed Blue” was on the lips of every Indian as he confessed his love for the game. Nike put into words what every Indian felt when its cricket team went to play against the world. Winning the cup and defeating the world made every one weep and bleed for the men in blue.

Pepsi and its campaigns have always been young and appealed to the youth. However, its campaign around the World Cup created by the agency Taproot India, brought a smile to everyone’s lips. Humorous, irreverent, and interesting, the campaign brought out the spirit of the viewers. When it comes to cricket, every Indian thinks he’s the expert and that one could easily teach the cricketers a thing or two to improve their game. For every lost match, we have an explanation & a solution, which, if the team had followed, would have ensured they won the match. The Pepsi ad portrayed this so beautifully with everybody teaching the cricketers how to master unique batting and bowling tricks. It brought a fresh twist to the game and soon the “helicopter shot”, “the doosra”, and the “upar cut” become the new cricket lingo. They were funny and totally different from the cricket rule book. Pepsi did change the game.     Read More....

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
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“The King’s Speech” won the 83rd Annual Academy Award this year for the ‘Best Picture’. However, instead of the Oscars, those were youngsters of China, India, Brazil, et al that the big movie studios were looking at this time. Today, the success of a film depends on how it does in foreign markets and not on how many Oscars it gets. From Harry Potter to Sherlock Holmes to even Inception; all were declared hits because they did big business outside America. Avatar, the highest grosser of all times, made 3/4th of its money outside US & Canada. The markets with the biggest growth potential are Russia, China India, et al. There seems to be a ‘cinema boom’ in these countries and they are lapping up Hollywood films like nobody’s business. So, for Hollywood movie production houses, the most important task today is to distribute their films in these markets and make the maximum money. The focus is not just on a good script, but also on choosing the right actors and locations that will appeal to the audience of these markets, Success lies in accurately predicting foreign tastes. No more is it important to predict what the jury of the Oscars will like. Money flows into Hollywood when the youngsters of India, Brazil, China & Russia flock to the theaters.

COOL CONSUMERS ARE HOT PROPERTY

Not just Hollywood, a whole lot of brands are looking eastwards to help increase their market share today. In fact, you need to look at the youngsters of the world to survive – the largest percentage of which resides outside Europe & America. Consider this; the combined population of India and China is about 2.6 billion people, that’s approximately 37% of humanity. China Mobile had 301 million cell phone subscribers in 2007. The estimated population of United States then was 298 million!!

In 2001, Jim O’ Neill, the economist at Goldman Sachs, had coined the term BRIC and predicted that by 2050, these countries would gather so much might that they would overshadow the biggies like USA, Europe and Japan.

He said there was one way these countries would change the world – ‘by shopping!!’ It’s true, as the ‘shoppers’, i.e. the consumers of these nations, have been contributing more to global GDP than other nations. Those are the ‘super consumers’ of these ‘super nations’, who are today deciding the future of many brands – not just Hollywood! The brand, which manages to catch the imagination of these consumers, will survive and thrive.

Last year, an Italian brand tried to do it and managed to get a lot of attention. Diesel launched its “Be Stupid” campaign, which spoke the language that the youth wanted to hear. It said, “Be smart is what your parents & teachers always told you to be, but we are with the stupid, for ‘Stupid’ is the relentless pursuit of a regret free life!”

It came out with a series of advertisements that shocked and inspired and got talked about for their visuals and slogans. The slogans were just what the youth of today loved. “Smart critiques, Stupid creates”, showed the power of a free mind. Another one went thus, “Smart many have the brains, but stupid has the balls.” Their logic was simple – you can’t outsmart stupid. So don’t even try !!

“Be Stupid” was a campaign to build an image of Diesel, as the brand that was ‘brave’ and not scared of taking risks. For the cool consumers – the youngsters – Diesel became the ‘hit’ and the most talked about brand.

This new brand of ‘cool’ consumers is deciding restless endeciding the ways of the world. He is rest less and needs constant gratification. For him, shopping is entertainment, and every brand is doing all it can to keep him engaged & entertained.

TIME magazine even reduced the size of its cover story from 4,500 words (a pattern it had followed for the last 20 years) to 2,800 words to make it more relevant for today’s consumer.

The maximum growth is happening in the BRIC countries & the youth here is actually deciding the future. There are more Chinese youth who own computer phones, digital video cameras and at-home broadband internet than their American counterparts. Nielsen Media Research says that Russia will be the fourth largest consumer market in the world by 2025. India has the largest number of engineers, science graduates & post graduates. India & China will become the highest spenders on entertainment & media.

Yes, it’s true that it’s the BRIC consumer who will rule and if you want to survive, you need to understand them & market to them – for they are a different generation.     Read More....

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Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

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“How to get your roommate to clean the room?”
“How to survive the boring talks of your girlfriend?”
“How to stare at other women, in front of your girlfriend?”

Find all your answers at the “University of Freshology”. These new advertisements of Sprite which ask you to “first drink, then think” are bringing a smile on many faces! The new advertisements take a fresh look at Sprite while keeping the ‘Brand Image’ the same. From the beginning, Sprite has believed in one thought – unlike other innumerable products / brands that promised you impossible benefits, Sprite offered you only freshness. From the time it was launched in India in 1999, with the tagline “Sprite bujhay only pyaas, baki all bakwaas”, it has stuck to its image of being the no-nonsense- just-thirst-quencher brand. This time too, its advertisements are interesting and, well, obviously refreshing.

POWER OF WORDS

They are really more powerful than a bomb if handled well. The right words can spark a revolution, can make people even give up their lives for you. Many a time, they even change the world. When Mother Teresa said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one” she changed the perspectives of a lot of people who thought how helping just one person could change the world? She showed them how – with her words. Martin Luther King spoke about apartheid & its indignities and people cried after they heard his famous speech “I have a dream”. He even told people to speak up when they saw injustice; and for that he said: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” In his own humorous way, Woody Allen echoed our anxiety about death when he said, “It’s not that I’m afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

It’s more often than not that great words make an advertisement more memorable. Sometimes witty, sometimes crisp, sometimes direct, sometimes funny, never boring, but always simple and easy to remember. Consider these, “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”, or “Because, you’re worth it – L’Oréal”, or “Let your fingers do the walking – Yellow Pages”. These short and very simple sentences defined the whole business, the benefits of buying or using the brand, and stuck to our memory like glue! In fact, some great advertising punch-lines consisted of only two words. Here are some, “Connecting People – Nokia”, “Life’s Good – LG”, “Hello Moto – Motorola”, “Live Unboring – Ikea”, “Intel Inside – Intel”. In fact, it took just two words to unite our country against the British: “Quit India!” Sometimes, even one word did the trick. Budweiser’s “Wassup” tagline made the brand look young and super cool!

Some ad jingles and slogans became so famous and were etched so firmly in people’s memory that they were used to make a point by famous people to prove their point. When Burger King came out with its tagline “Where’s the beef?” indicating that its burgers were beefier and hence better than the competitor’s where you hardly spotted the beef, the three words became a rage. Even some presidential candidates quoted them to show their superiority over their competitors.      Read More....

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Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

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It’s once again that time of the year when love is in the air and all around you, or as Jay Leno once described it, “Today is Valentine’s Day – or as men like to call it, Extortion Day!”

GREAT MARKETERS ARE GREAT LOVERS

A great marketer loves people. He observes them well, and is quick to find out what they want, many times even before the consumer himself! They call him the “accidental billionaire.” But one thing the man knew as well as software programming was what people his age liked and wanted. Mark Zuckerberg knew that kids on campus want to always be in touch with each other, apart from of course knowing who was dating whom. He probably was right; no wonder Facebook has over 500 million users, and the “status” tab is the most talked about feature! For a great marketer, the consumer is king.

The rule is simple, give them what they love and you will have them eating out of your hand.

There is nothing more attractive than this four-letter word. No, it’s not ‘LOVE’ but ‘FREE’! If you understand consumers, you will know the magical power of this word. Add to this another four-letter word ‘EASY’ and you have a blockbuster brand in your hands. If you are not convinced, look at Google. It’s so successful because it’s free and it’s so easy to use. It even corrects your spellings. Look at Facebook. It’s free and so easy and simple a concept. In 2007, suddenly everybody was talking about Ryanair, making it Britain’s most loved airline. Why? They gave away 1 million free air tickets. In 4 hours, 4 million people hit its website, making it the most talked about & popular airline service.

Price is the key driving factor and getting it right is one of the key qualities of a great marketer. Bata was always famous for its prices. Though there may not be much difference between Rs.100 and Rs.99.95, somehow Rs.99.95 is always perceived as much lesser than Rs.100. A keen observer of human nature discovered this & Bata sold more shoes.

What’s marketing without advertising! And a great advertisement is one which makes people go out and buy the product! The one advertisement that has burnt up cyberspace, TV, and newspapers in the US recently is the ad for Chrysler’s new sedan. It was shown on Sunday (Feb 6, 2011) and in two days, the ad had gone viral and racked up more than 3.5 million views on the YouTube. Everybody was talking about it. The ad has the one thing everybody loves – honesty. It tells the story of a city that has been to hell and back. It tells the story of an underdog. The world loves this kind of a story. People cried after seeing the ad. And it worked like nobody’s business, for according to Autometrics, within 10 minutes of the ad going on air, 131 people inquired about the sedan’s price. The ad featured Eminem, a rapper, who himself comes back from tough times – much like Detroit. The combination was deadly and worked superbly for Chrysler and Eminem. After all, a good ad reflects the state of the consumer’s psyche and this one echoed what Americans wanted to hear… that the good times would be back again soon.

Tata Nano seems to be doing just that here. Its cute advertisement, where the little girl cuddles her first cute car, pulls at your heart strings; and as you smile, you almost feel a part of this family and share their happiness.      Read More....

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The movie was insipid, I agree! However, marketers have important lessons to learn – no, not from the film, but its title. Think about it, all our marketing activities are centered around the “Break”. The “breaks” are our lifelines. On TV, it’s the commercial break where all the action happens for marketers!

But does TV still work? Does it hold as much promise today as it did earlier?

IS TV DEAD?

TV has almost become a dirty word in today’s marketing world. Most people, especially the younger generations, seem to be spending all their time online. So who is watching TV?

According to the Association of National Advertisers, a survey done on US marketers showed that 62% of them believed that TV advertising had become less effective in the last couple of years.

However, they were in for a surprise as according to Deloitte’s 2009 State of the Media Democracy report, Americans were watching 18 hours of TV in 2009 as compared to 16 hours in 2008 – and 26% more people in 2009 than in 2008 choose TV as their favorite media! According to the 2009 Three Screens Report of Nielson, Americans were watching more TV than ever before. Out of the three screens, i.e, TV, internet and mobile, the former beat the others hallow, be it UK or USA. The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) comes out with the most thorough surveys of media habits of consumers. According to its Touchpoint 3 survey, people in UK too were watching 3.7 hours of TV daily as compared to 1.8 hours of internet. In India, where TVscreens are more common than other screens, it’s definitely TV that wins!

The one gadget that is owned by most of the population of any country is TV. Also, the number of TV’s in each household is increasing. Some say that youths are watching less TV, whereas data suggests that historically, youngsters have always watched less TV and there has always been a positive correlation between age and TV viewership.

While it may sound trendier to talk of online and emerging media, the fact is that nothing motivates consumers to buy like TV spots can! So Fox Network focused on selling its TV spots and not its digital platform. Unlike other TV networks like NBC and CBS, who went to marketers with presentations showcasing not just their TV media but digital too, Fox decided to focus on only its TV networks. Their logic was simple. Nothing motivates a consumer to buy like a TV spot can.

According to a customized research done by the firm Marketing Evolution, TV accounts for almost 70 percent of the impact on a consumer’s purchase decisions. It’s an undisputed fact that the mass reach of TV and the power it has to build mass awareness is leaps and bounds ahead of any other media, be it radio, internet, out-ofhome or even cinema. This was reconfirmed by Price water house Coopers in a study to find the correlation between brand value and communication effectiveness. Out of all the forms of media, i.e, TV, press, internet, radio, direct mail and outdoors, the study concluded that on an average, £1 million increase in TV marketing investment yields £4.5 million in sales. There was a very high correlation between increase in brand value and advertising investment on TV. It just proved one old fact – nothing can build brands like TV can.      Read More....

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Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
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Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

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It’s time again to make New Year resolutions, make new promises, set new targets and make new plans. For most of us, it’s also a time to “wish-I-haddone-more”, wish I had planned better, worked harder, quit smoking, kept my new year resolution of 2010! This new year would also be the same as last year, if we do not start thinking differently. The last decade proved that in business, as in personal life, those brands and people who reinvented, stayed in business. You need to be alert and look out for new trends; but more than that, you need to be more aggressive in observing what’s not working and then changing it fast. Being in love with your old ways (however successful they were in the past) can be disastrous.

OLD NEED NOT BE GOLD
If you want to raise a happy child, the rule is, “Till he is five years old, treat him like a king. Till he is 13, treat him like a prince. From 13 to 18, treat him like a pauper. After 18, become his best friend.” The crux is that good parents change their ways as their children grow. Good marketers too change their strategies as markets and times change.

What worked this decade will be outdated in the new one. In the 1970s, the hottest marketing invention was the ‘Direct Mailer’. It is known as ‘Junk Mail’ today. The 1980s was dominated by “collect tokens; and exchange for gifts.” You were encouraged to collect bottle caps, tokens, labels and encouraged to exchange them for gifts, discounts etc. Today, you log on to Groupon.com or snapdeal.com and find out exciting discount offers of the day. After all, who has the patience today to wait and collect a desired number of tokens and then get the discounts. The 1990s saw the explosion of ‘Loyalty Cards’. Every retailer had a loyalty programme, which promised discounts and freebies. Today, the consumer is not motivated by just discounts. He wants more. He wants to take charge – and Smirnoff showed him how. It launched a campaign named “Be There”. You were invited to a nightclub, but there was more it. Loyal consumers even got a chance to plan which music they wanted to hear and everything else they wanted to do that night via Smirnoff’s Facebook page. Today, those are the Fan Pages on Facebook that do more business for a brand, than loyalty cards do.

The new decade is all about ‘interactivity’. On December 14, 2010, Apple launched its first iAd for the iPad with the advertisement of Disney’s new film Tron Legacy. The advertisement featured 10 minutes of video and movie stills. Ipad had a movie theater locator with showtimings and a preview of the sound track, which you, as a privileged user, had the option of purchasing from iTunes. With the iPad becoming the “it” thing for gifting this holiday season, and with already more than 7.5 million iPad users worldwide, advertising professionals would soon have to reinvent and start thinking beyond the 30 or 60 second spots on TV, for those are the interactive advertisements that will be the next new exciting trend of the coming years.

All that you learnt about marketing in school is going to change totally. So be ready to give up your favourite ideas and start adopting new ones.

INNOVATION IS NOT GOOD SOMETIMES
A great leader, like a great parent, changes and moulds his ways first. More importantly, a good leader never fails to accept his mistakes. It helps him to remove the shackles, free himself from the burden of his faults and move faster     Read More....

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Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

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Yes, it’s too time consuming to wait to be let in. If you want to create an impact, you have to be quick. You have to be aggressive. You don’t knock. You just walk on in! In marketing too, a lot of brands have done it by catching our attention and our imaginations and walking right into our lives.

In fact, when you do so, it doesn’t matter whether you are big or small, old or new. What matters is how aggressive you are. If you put your energies in the right direction, even the mighty will crumble in front of you.

DARE TO DO THE NEW

The person topping the list of “Dares” seems to be Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who is spilling the beans on the Pentagon, the Government, and even on corporations. He has shown what “being bold” can do. A single man who has dared to take on the Goliaths, much like some brands, the Davids, who took on themighty Goliaths and defeated them.
A new player in the telecommunications sector, this brand has shaken the old players. Its advertising campaign said it all. “Do the new and the world will follow, like other mobile networks did, or at least tried to. 1 paisa per second. Across India. Any network. No special packs. For life. Do the new.” Tata Docomo changed the rules of the game with its innovative pricing strategy. Another new entrant created waves in the Indian markets. Yes, it’s always been bold, been different and even irreverent, and that’s what makes consumers love it so much. Virgin entered the Indian shores with its Virgin mobile with STD rates @ 20 paise/min, and started the “Indian Panga League”. A series of telephonic conversations between fans of IPL teams. Eight passionate IPL fans from eight different states fighting all day long over STD calls. The tongue-in-cheek humour was a first of its kind to be seen on Indian shores. It was daring, delighted the fans and even dared to challenge the biggies in the business. Much like its founder Richard Branson who has always challenged the norms and the big players and managed to snatch his piece of the market share pie from them.

A clear favourite of the customers and with a market share of around 80%, Hero Honda stands way ahead of its competitors. Yet, this small player used a creative strategy to challenge the Goliath. Bajaj knew the best way was to target ‘mileage’, something that Indians value the most. Hero Honda had become famous because of its “Fill it. Shut it. Forget it.” campaign, which showed consumers how fuel efficient its bikes were. Bajaj did the same. Its “Discover India with the power of 1 litre” campaign highlighted the Discover bike’s super mileage power in an extremely interesting manner. The travellers on a Bajaj bike discovered amazing places like Mattur, near Manglore, where people still speak Sanskrit, places like the Magnetic Hill near Ladhak, which has magnetic properties strong enough to pull bikes uphill. The ads truly helped us discover India and helped the company discover new markets. The challenger ads helped Discover surpass its monthly target of 30,000 bikes, as sales touched 75,000! It sure made a big dent in the leader’s market share.

Just a good product will not solve your problems. You need to aggressively market it and many times you need to take on competitors headlong, challenge them and shake them up, so that the consumers notice you.

Read More....

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IIPM makes business education truly global
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Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

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His business plans go a little beyond – well, infinity, if I may put it that way. The vision of his company is to make us a multiplanetary civilization. Yes, we needn’t fear being stuck on Earth forever when some unforeseen tragedy strikes. For that 39 year old Elon Musk and his company Space X, are inventing a reusable orbit-class rocket, which according to him, will be one of the most important inventions in history. He plans to take us to various planets and he may be successful, faster than we think he can. However far flung his vision may sound, for starters, the man has managed to win a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to help deliver cargo to the International Space Station located 200 miles above the Earth.

Wow! That’s what dreamers are made of, those who dare to think beyond – in this case, way beyond the ordinary. Elon is also one entrepreneur who has his eyes set on the future. He has a car company. It’s no ordinary car company but an electric car company named Tesla. He also has a power firm; no ordinary power firm, but a solar power firm named Solar City. In the distant future, probably those are the businesses that will thrive, and survive.

FORGET ALL THAT YOU LEARNT! IT’S OUTDATED!

Traditionally, the companies that traded in oil were the ones who made the maximum money and became the world’s biggest companies. So you had companies like Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP etc dominating the lists. They were soon joined by companies that used this oil to run their products. So those were the carmakers who started sharing space with them; and you saw companies like Toyota Motors, General Motors, et al join the group. However, the new trend is different today. The world’s largest corporation is one that manufactures more or less nothing – forget thriving on natural resources. Today, the world’s largest corporation is Walmart. From being a discount retailer chain to one that believes in selling energy-efficient bulbs (it sold 145 million of these in 15 months) to joining the Clinton Climate Initiative, Walmart knew that just giving discounts was not going to be enough. It had to show customers that it was progressive too. That and some quick global expansions validating that perspective have today made it No.1.

Things are changing fast. The Hotmail is hot no more. Gmail replaced it; and even that too could be a gone-mail soon, for now you have Facemail – the new service provided by Facebook. A lot of youngsters today don’t even remember when they last sent an e-mail. Its so passé... You message or mail via Facebook now.      Read More....


For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

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Your first kiss, your first love, listening to an old song, walking in the rain, receiving a mail from an old acquaintance, watching your child sleep, watching the sunset, waking up to find you still have an hour to sleep, getting a gift that you were planning to buy, seeing your parents smile, sipping coffee in the winter sun! Guess these are just some of the moments that are our ‘bestest’ ones. Life is full of challenges, heartbreaks, pressures and tensions, but true satisfaction and long lasting happiness comes from some of the simplest things that life has to offer.

As in life, so in business, the best things are the simplest. Let’s take a closer look.

THE BEST COMMUNICATION IS THE SIMPLEST

The most famous scientist who ever lived, and the person responsible for giving the most famous equation of the world: E=mc2, was, yes we all know, Albert Einstein. What made this man so famous and made his theories create the maximum impact was not just his genius in analysing things, but in his ability to explain even the most complicated theories in the simplest manner possible. Even a layman, a non-scientific brain could understand them. One of the simplest explanations of Einstein’s ‘Theory of Relativity’ was given by a young fellow, and this is what he said: “When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it seems longer than an hour. That’s the crux of the Theory of Relativity.” Einstein too could simplify the various laws of physics and make everyone understand them.

We live in an “over communicated” society where an avalanche of news, messages, ads, et al, greet us every single day. If you want to stand out, you need to be simple; it’s the best way to beat the clutter.

Think of the punch line of any advertisement you like. Chances are, it will be short and simple. The most memorable advertisements have been the simplest ones.

Ask a creative guy and he will tell you how difficult it is to be simple. Simplicity is an art, and as one of the most famous artists of our times Leonardo Da Vinci said: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” A great machine is not necessarily the most sophisticated one; it’s rather the one that’s simplest to understand by the person who will use it. The corollary? A great marketing message is the one that’s absolutely clear to the consumers. “Iodex maliye, kaam pe chaliye” is the simplest way to describe a quick-pain relief ointment. “The ultimate driving machine” best describes the pleasure that money could buy! BMW remains the world’s hottest brand. Alka Seltzer’s punch line “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is!” made the brand an instant hit. From Nike’s “Just do it” to McDonald’s “I’m lovin it” to Coca Cola’s “It’s the real thing”, those are simple sentences that have been responsible for creating the magic and making the brand name stick in the mind of the consumers.

In today’s world, it’s of utmost importance to focus on simplicity. In fact, your future survival will depend on it. According to UNICEF, “Nearly a billion people will enter the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names and a third of them are women.” According to the National Adult Literacy Survey (1992), some 47% of the US population demonstrated low levels of literacy. The case would not be better for most other economies. As business people, we need to understand that these are our consumers and if we really want to sell them, or tell them anything, it better be simple for them to truly understand and appreciate the message.     Read More....


For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

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