Forget good or bad, just plain ugly

I recently got this in my mail. This should be put up there as the epitome of ugly advertizing:



This is the latest pop-up kind of advertizing. The portal promises that the advertiser gains because this latest method of pop-up advertizing "just jumps out and grabs attention" and that the brand "just cannot be ignored". I'm sorry but when did advertizing become this annoying. can you imagine how this pop up ad would massacre the surfing experience of a person? world over people are moving towards non intrusive advertzing platforms because there is a big realization that advertizing that is annoying does not transalte into ROI. It may grab attention but also creates an ill feeling about the brand in the minds of the consumer.

The reason why Google's SEO based text advertizinng was a runaway success was because it was simple, direct and clean. It didn't take away from the surfing experience but ingact complemented it. Facebook too, while contemplating and Ad platform took pains to ensure that the advertizing didn't detract from the user experience. Companies like Facebook have to be particularly careful because user experience is what makes or breaks social interactive sites. That's why this portal's latest venture is puzzling and frankly a bit annoying. This also sends a wrong message to your most valuable asset, your website's subscriber. By pissing them off, by putting annoying pop up advertizing, you are turning them away from your website!

Another side of ugly is the latest Yahoo Search Ad in India. The Ad shows a skydiver with a stutter failing to count from 1-10 in time (due to his stutter) and then eventually crashing to death, with the tagline going "Sometimes every second counts". I don't see how this Ad is even remotely funny. Its in extremely poor taste. As a marketer the rule of thumb is you do not make fun of people disabilities. Simply because, marketing is a very powerful tool. It has an incredible power to influence huge masses of people and must be used to promote positive ideas. I truly believe this. A brand that infuses or reinforces positive ideas will also be looked upon in the same light. When a brand tries to ridicule a group no matter what their ethncity will always end up leaving a bad taste and that's a risk a top notch brand like Yahoo should not take.

E-commerce e-rrupts in India

(Apologies for not posting regularly, work's been a little busy. Below is an article of mine on the growth of E-commerce in India that was published. Citation of this in any reproduction would be appreciated)

You know things have come full circle when your mom tells you to check the internet for better prices before buying a TV. Unbeknownst to me my mom, who I thought was rather vary of the internet as a medium to buy/sell things, had been actively browsing the net, buying travel tickets, perusing ebay and other property sites and even indulging in online stock trading ! That’s when two things hit me. E-commerce is a reality in India and that my mom is officially more net savvy than me. Considering that I actively cover the digital space looking for the next big trend, this fact is greatly embarrassing.

But on a more serious note, the E-commerce trend in India requires a serious look considering that more and more people in India are using the net not just to chat or to look for more information but also to buy and sell commodities. That’s why the Consumer E-Commerce Market in India 2006-2007 Report released by the Internet and Mobile Association in India (IAMAI) is particularly useful as it offers insights on the size and drivers of the E-commerce Market in India.

According the report compiled by IMRB, the B2C E-commerce industry for the year 2006-07 was computed to be around Rs. 7080 crores. Further more, the market is set to grow at a whopping rate of 30% and is expected to be worth Rs. 9210 crores by the end of 2007-08. To fully understand the implications of the report it is important to understand E-commerce and what it consists of

E-Commerce
E-Commerce is generally defined as the buying & selling of products & services over the internet or other internet based computer networks. A vast array of commerce is conducted in this way through activities such as electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.

Traditional commerce, which consisted of a physical market place, with physical products and physical payment methods was forced to evolve with the advent of the internet. The physical products were displayed on the virtual world and were thus available electronically. The online payment system through credit and debit cards also ensured that even the transaction was purely electronic

E-commerce in India

The E-commerce market in India has been largely spurred on by the huge upsurge in the online travel industry due to the entry of low cost carriers. The IAMAI Report, based on feedback from key players in the e-commerce industry, divides the E-commerce sector into the following verticals

1. Travel, comprising Travel aggregators, Tour Operators, Hotels and Railways
2. E-tailing, comprising Online Retailers and Online Auctions
3. Classifieds, comprising Online Jobs, Online Matrimony, Online Property, Online
Automobile and General Classifieds
4. Paid Content Subscription, comprising research, articles, exclusive videos, etc
5. Digital downloads, from Internet to Mobiles and internet

As mentioned earlier, The total market size of B2C and C2C E-Commerce industry in India is around Rs. 7080 crores at the end of 2006-07. It is expected to rise to Rs. 9210 crores by the end of 2007-08.

Following is the break up for B2C and C2C E-Commerce Industry in India for the year 2006-07 and 2007-08:

The above figures show that along with online travel, the digital downloads segment is
expected to be one of the main contributors to the Online Non-Travel Industry in future due to an increase in mobile subscribers across the country.

E-commerce Usage in India
The adoption of E-commerce in the country correlates directly with rise in the internet usage in the country. According to I Cube 2007 Internet in India Report, the internet base in India grew by 40% to reach 46 million

As the base of internet users gain more awareness and exposure, it is expected that they will spend more time on the internet and graduate from basic internet applications like email & chat to using the net for advanced applications like finding information and making transactions online.

As shown by the above chart, E-commerce activities has risen to being 5% of the overall internet activities in the country. Although the bulk of the internet activities is still Email, E commerce is projected to grow as online transaction norms and other entry barrier ease over time

Facilitators and Barriers For The E-Commerce Market in India

As a marketer, it is important to understand the reasons behind the growth of the E-Commerce industry in India inorder to come to a decision on if your product is ready for the e-commerce route.

According to the I Cube 2006 Report, the top 6 reasons for buying online are:

Clearly consumers favour transacting online when time is a constraint. Another major reason is the convenience afforded by shopping from home. One of the biggest advantages of having a virtual store is that a wide variety of products can be displayed as space/retail rent is not a major constraint

For E-commerce to make rapid strides in the country, we also need to look at the barriers that are impeding consumer activities in this arena

As seen above, the biggest concern still remains product quality and the absence of the touch-feel experience afforded by physical products. Online payment transaction security is also a major concern given the spate of credit card frauds and phishing related incidents

E- commerce is undoubtedly the future of shopping in India, although, as shopping in this country is an experience in itself, it is unlikely to supplant the traditional mode of shopping. For this sector to grow robustly concerns regarding online payment has to be
addressed at the earliest. Internet users have to be educated about transacting online & their apprehensions in revealing credit card details must be allayed. Inorder to compete with the traditional store fronts, more customization and variety has to be incorporated.

An interesting way forward would be to supplement traditional store fronts with an online portal to service customers who are bogged down by long queues, who have little to spend on shopping and who are looking for more variety. A great example of this would be trying out a dress in a traditional store and on not finding the exact colour or size, going online and ordering it off the store’s online portal.

I would definitely recommend all those working in the digital media to check out the various internet and mobile telephony based reports available on the IAMAI website - http://www.iamai.in/, especially the “Internet in India 2007” report. These reports offer an invaluable insight, one that may save marketers a lot of money from that cash strapped marketing budget.

iPhoney

So the big news of recent times was the launch of the Apple iPhone 3G in India less than 11 weeks after its glonal launch and the big shocker was the price point - 31,000 for the 8GB model and 36,100 for the 16 GB model - roughly 4 times the US price.

Frankly speaking they got it wrong. India is an extremely price sensitive market. People here no matter how affluent will always look for value for money and will not splurge good money on things like design. Its in our DNA. Let me state that its not the question of price for the indian consumer but if the price is justified at all. Thats the moot point. Once we are convinced that its worth the price, only then we'll go for it. Thats why all the companies around the world have a special strategy for India because we are firm about things and what they are supposed to cost.

Thats why the iPhone strategy is baffling. Are they really asking the Indian consumer to pay 4 times the price of what consumers pay in the US after not being able to avail the 3G facilities because (this is classic) 3G is not functional yet in India. Are these people for real? The folks at Vodaphone are defending their strategy by saying that they wanted to position this product as an aspirational product rather than as a mass product. When did mass become a bad thing anyhow?? and how does a product which does not have facilities to forward an SMS become an aspirational product??

Apple doesn't have cult status in India. They don't have frenzied fanboys who'll wait in freezing cold for a midnight launch. They can afford to be arrogant in the US because they have managed to cultivate a loyal legion who'll lap up whatever Apple offers and be its evangelists. Not in India. They don't even have an India office. What they needed to do was create that loyal base in India to ensure that they had some presence in the fastest growing telecom market in the world. Granted in the US, AT &T heavily subsidizes the price of the phone by keeping the user locked to the service for 2 years but I hear in India too its on similar lines. One needs to pay activation charges and the sim is locked to the phone.

The telecom operators could have played it in a smarter manner. I'm sure if the price was attractive enough, people would not have minded sticking on with the same service provider. They've lost a brilliant opportunity to control a captive market. The ones who are gaining in this mess are Nokia and Sony Ericsson. All they have to do is come with a phone which costs half the price and double the features and they can pretty much kick IPhone's butt. They really don't get the indian consumer do they??

Long tales and other good reads

So things have been good. Been reading a lot of good reads lately. Few of the really good ones for your perusal & consumption below:

Chris Anderson's Book - The Long Tail
I know, I know i'm behind the curve on this one. The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More (2006) by Chris Anderson, the Editor-in-chief of wired magazine (the favourite read of this blog) is a stellar book and must be read by everyone who is remotely interested in economics. Yes Economics and not just the internet. Anderson in this book talks about the remarkable manner in which the internet has re-written traditional retail that focussed solely on "hits" due to the constraints of supply chain and inventory costs. The main focus is on how, due to the internet, the market is moving towards the "non hits" as people are moving from mass consumer products to more customized niche products.

I knew about the Long Tail theory pretty much when the book released but this book has given me an insight on Search Engines that I never noticed before. The sieving quality of search engines to negotiate all the clutter on the net.That, methinks, is the saviour of the long tail. Yes there is significant choice out there thanks to the internet and the availability of information. But choice is useless unless you can get to it. Search Engines sift through the internet to get you what you want. That's why a Search Engine on the web portal is crucial.

Most companies do not pay attention to the search engines on their own web portal because they think their own portal is a small universe and people will get to the content any way. But regardless, navigating any portal can sometimes be overwhelming. I personally hate it when search queries within a site don't work and give out odd results. Especially when its at odds with Google. The big takeway for me personally from this book was that marketing to the long tail because of its niche drive preference is going to be difficult and sometimes not feasible but if one has an elaborate website, investing in good search engine technology and a recommendation alogorithm will ease things up significantly.

One of my favourite lines in the book tho, is when he describes Fiona Apple as "Delightfully Unhinged". I'd like to wear a T-shirt that says that! More on the book here. Also read the Long Tail blog here

There's a blogging exchange of words going on in Harvard Business Review between Chris Anderson and Anita Elberse, a harvard prof. Elberse is arguing on if one should take the long tail seriously and invest in it. Its an extremely good read and besides its greatly stimulating to see two intellectuals argue. Register on the HBR site and you'll get access to it. Can't link to it unfortunately :(

More shameless Wired Plug Alert
Yes well, what can I say I'm like a wired groupie these days. Wired is celebrating its 15th anniverssary this year and because of that one is able to access a lot of past gems. I chanced upon a wired article on the landmark US Vs Microsoft anitrust case. Th article, all of 45 pages, was published after the judgement to break up Microsoft was delivered in 1998. The article brilliantly narrates the events leading up to the case and gives inside scoop on all the players involved especially the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Microsoft.

The article reads like a salacious saga and is completely absorbing. Besides that it gives one valuable insights on US anti trust laws. By the end of this article, one gets to know the Sherman Act better than one's right hand. You also get know the ugly side of Microsoft. I'm not sure if the article was particularly biased against Microsoft but its not flaterring in anyway. I don't really get why people in tech hate microsoft so much. It may be vehemently dominating and they may not make the best of products but hey nobody out there has an OS that matches Microsoft. I use MS products evryday and I don't think I should crib particularly when I have not seen a better product to rival it. Read the article here

This made me wonder if India has Antitrust laws? Anyone know? Also I don't particularly think its a good idea, not right now any way. We've just become a free economy, what we don't need right now is a regulatory law. Besides, the ambanis and tatas of this country would never allow it

*end shameless plug*

More bounty
The Economic times recently had a great article on Leadership. In an article called "Four fundamental laws for CEOs racing against time" the author, with good examples, illustrates the 4 guiding principles that CEOs, who are pressed for immediate results, should adopt.

Another article in ET talks about the importance of customer advocacy. The author makes the case about why one should always invest in building a loyal community of users as the latter could come to the rescue during bad times. Read the Article here

Cat got the cream

I was reading today on afaqs on the success of Meow FM, which is apparently a "womens only radio station" and the first niche radio station in the country. I have, on travels to delhi, heard Meow FM and the one thing that struck me was that it was extremely chatty. More prone to talk than to music. Ofcourse the talk centred on steoreotypical topics usually associated with women - relationships, clothes shopping etc. But what works for this radio station is pure differenciation

Differentiate or die. I feel I should create a T shirt and embrace this slogan. Its especially true in market which is overcrowded and the opportunities for differentiation is small. Thats the story of the Indian radio scenario where all stations pretty much play the same music and sound the same. Yes there are myriad types of music but if you consider the Indian milieu, if you're not playing bollywood music you might as well die. Some channels do play english music as a point of differentiation but the audience for that is still very small even in urban cities. The issue for radio stations is to cater to a mass audience and still be different. World space kind of attempted this by catering to various music like southern music, classical music and more but again the critical mass of all these channels, I feel, weren't significant. Meow's differencitation of catering only to women has apparently worked. According the article, Meow enjoys "a share of 3 per cent in Delhi; in Mumbai, the share is 2 per cent. In Kolkata, however, where it was launched recently, the share is 8 per cent".

In the name of differentiation, one might end up catering to a niche and that might be a risky proposition but as the Meow FM scenario shows, it might also work to an advantage especially with advertizers. As the channel is so niche, advertizers, for whom women are a major target audience, prefer to advertize on this channel as the effectiveness of advertizing increases. So more buck for your money because your audience is being appropriately targetted. Meow attracts advertisers who are interested in women’s products and women consumers, such as the FMCG brands, retail brands and educational institutes. "You won’t see too much property, banking and financial brands on our station," Meow's Chief operating officer, Anil Srivatsa asserts.

Meow in fact has gone one step further. The article goes on to say that because their channel is so niche, "Meow has a dedicated team called Meow Research, which conducts research on women, lifestyle choices, product preferences and the various aspects of a woman's buying pattern or behavioural pattern. This data is churned out every two weeks and will soon be made available to anybody – advertisers or media agencies – who wants to use it ". Who said advertising was the only way to make money?

Another interesting feature is that Meow has started a social networking site called merimeow.com which not only enables them to connect with their audience over web 2.0 but also, as most Social Networking sites require sign ups and profile entries, these guys get valuable profile information on their target audience. They get to know which dempgraphic listens to meow the most, what's hot, what's happening, what the buzz is and more!! Jeez these guys ARE smart! Infact on checking the site out, I was reminded of another brand that used web 2.0 very very smartly - Sunsilk's Gang Of Girls website.The Meow website has a virtual bazaar that no doubt markets women's products. Soon there will be tie ups with third party companies that cater to cosmetics, soaps etc and meow will end up creating another revenue stream.

A lot of interesting best practices from a radio station that no one took seriously when it first launched and which proved that differentiation is critical for survival. Read the complete article here

Also, I really do not want to say MEOW one more time

Google Killer? Really??

So well, Cuil.com was launched recently amidst much hoopla and was touted by its PR as the "Google Killer" search engine. Well the verdict it out and initial reactions aren't much to go by. I'm being polite, let me say it then, it sucks. But that isn't the point, the point is that it sucks primarily when compared to Google. But, wait a sec, I didn't force the comparison, Cuil itself forced me to do it.When you call your product the killer anything, you are begging people to make comparisons by raising their expectations and if don't particularly meet those expectations and flounder badly, you are going to invite some pretty strong reactions

Well to be honest the tag line caught my fancy and I too tried out the site and the first thing I did was search my name. I was very very disappointed with cuil's results. For a site that claims to index far more sites than google, I was pretty let down with the results. My blog for instance wasn't indexed (and no I'm not berating cuil for that reason). My point is that, this is obviously a big PR snafu. Ofcourse it attracted a lot of people, ofcourse a lot of people searched on it but the upshot of it has been that it has been universally berated. Is the hype worth the negative reaction? The done thing would have been to be slightly discreet, to have gone for a soft launch with rigorous testing of the product without tall claims

The lesson for marketers here is to ensure that there is no disconnect between the marketing hype and the product. Ofcourse we all want our products to sell but nothing is worth the bad press and the public really isn't that forgiving. So next time you make tall claims make sure the product live upto it

More about cuil here

Twitter - Fail Whale Brand Strategy

I like twitter a lot. Its so uncomplicated. If you haven't heard of twitter yet, duuuuuude better catch up! Twitter is essentially a micro-blogging service where people input text to keep their friends or "followers" updated on what's been happening in their lives. Twitter has a character limit of 14o, so its sorta like a MSN/Gtalk status message only with more character limit and which people online can follow

Twitter is cool but more often than not the site seems to be down, particularly when there is heavy usage during an event like Mac world expo etc. Although the site suffers from technical glitches, it still has extremely loyal followers and its popularity is growing day by day. So question, how come web surfers like us who have no patience with technical glitches, still continue to patronise twitter? Answer: Twitter has come across as a community product. Twitter communicates the site unavailibity through a Fail whale graphic and is extremely open about site outages and failures. This honesty is endearing and comes across as genuine. The Fail whale graphic greatly helps in this cause. The image now has a huge fan following online and there's even a mechandize line based on the fail whale image.

The fail whale image above, was created by Yiying Lu and apparently symbolizes a Beluga Whale in distress. A beluga whale is known to utter high pitched twitters. The image of a whale in distress being resucued by birds seems like a quirky, open, honest & endearing way of communicating a problem and this is what I guess, keeps people loyal to twitter, although if the glitches continue unfixed, the user patience might run out.

The message here is to maintain a dialogue with the users about a genuine problem and this in a way fosters transparency and trust in a brand. This is also a great example of how building a community around your brand can help during bad times.