Saturday, July 26, 2008

Jodha Akbar solves Paheli

Tanishq builds an ‘emotional’ connect through its ads and movies

Come Valentine’s day and you will feel the power of love once again, the mighty power of 16th century’s romance, that the valiant Mughal emperor Akbar and beautiful Rajput princess Jodha Bai shared. And guess who takes all the credit for the ornamentation of the romantic saga; it’s none other than our modern Ratan Tata; all thanks to his successful venture called Tanishq, which of late has also been making news at the box office and how! As 4Ps B&M had disclosed the details in the issue dated January 4, 2008, the beginning of February this year will also see the TVC showcasing the Jodha Akbar collection from Tanishq; indeed an advertising strategy, which goes much beyond what the power of the Hrithik-Ash duo alone can dare to achieve!

Advertising in movies is not something new for Tanishq though. It has always resorted to the right movie for promoting its products. Remember the King Khan starrer period film Paheli? Yes, of course, the film bombed at the box office, yet Tanishq gained, thereby increasing its turnover substantially during FY-06 as Bhaskar Bhat, MD, Titan Industries affirms, “It gave Tansihq a platform to convey its brand image and at the same time we also launched a ‘Paheli’ collection”. So what are the big launch plans for Jodha Akbar? Well, the film also presents another big platform for Tanishq to showcase its offerings. So even if UTV fails to mint moolah from Jodha Akbar, Tanishq has its own advertising strategy in place to reach its target audience. “The movie will be released in overseas film festivals and we want to reach the NRIs and promote it for their marriages,” explains C. K. Venkataraman, COO-Jewellery, Titan Industries.

A unique strategy indeed and goes well with Tanishq’s brand image of commemorating the heritage of the glory days of India. Yes, that’s palpable from Tanishq’s earlier ads, which promoted the product as a classic immortalised design. Agress Alpana Parida, Head – Marketing & Merchandising, Tanishq, “That helped us to become the most trustworthy brand but then it became important to reach out to the masses also.” Surely, this well justifies Tanishq’s revelations of many TVCs, which showcased marriages of different cultures, rich masses indeed! “Tanishq has been always a progressive brand, which has been able to create a trustworthy brand image among the niche as well as masses,” elaborates Vikram Tyanath, Team Leader, Lowe. Concerning its latest ad-splashes, Venkataraman has a word to share, “Tanishq is a brand for the youth also and that’s precisely what we plan to promote through our ads. At the same time, we won’t compromise with the ‘trust’ image.” He is also open to tie-up with movies and to create special TVCs. “Such association has always helped us to sustain our brand image and we needn’t talk about trust anymore. Rather, now our ads will talk about craftsmanship & designs,” reveals Parida. So whether Jodha Akbar works at the box-office is a tale for another day, but as far as Tanishq is concerned, it couldn’t have imagined a more romantic side to history!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Monday, July 14, 2008

Towering motives

A slew of strategic initiatives are on in the tower business space

The tower business in the telecom space is buzzing almost with an equal bass and treble effect as that of the spectrum rows right now. In December last year, Airtel’s tower arm, Bharti Infratel sold 9% stake for $1 billion, to Singapore’s Temasek led consortium, taking the total valuation of the company to a whopping $10 billion. A couple of days before the Bharti tower sale deal, Spice Communications also sold as many as 600 towers to Quipo Telecom for Rs.6 billion and in August 2007, RCOM sold 5% for $337 million in its tower subsidiary, escalating the value of RCOM’s tower business to $7 billion. The obvious reason is to unlock value.

The spectrum tangle still persists, but interestingly, to make substantial cost savings both in capital & operational expenditure, even bitter adversaries are turning bedfellows, with respect to the tower business. As per RCOM’s estimates, a new cell site will ensure capex and opex saving of 30% and 3036% respectively & an existing site will result in savings of 10% & 1518% correspondingly. Recently, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone & Idea Cellular announced plans to jointly form an independent tower company called Indus Tower. As per a statement by Vodafone, “The primary benefit will be accelerated expansion of coverage, especially into rural areas, and wider access to affordable services for all”.

While telecom giants are divesting stakes in tower companies to rake in the moolah, they also understand that while rivalry is necessary to keep the competitive spirit going, as far as the tower business is concerned, collaboration seems to be the most viable option.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)

Friday, July 11, 2008

Applying minds!

MINDTREE: SALIL GODIKA

Applying minds!


At a time when all and sundry in the Indian IT milieu are spending sleepless nights, having borne the brunt of the rupee appreciation, MindTree Consulting is busy painting the town red. – what with its net profits for FY08 Q2 increasing at a walloping 34% (Q-o-Q) to touch $6.7 million! Moreover, its favourable market image can also be substantiated by the fact that during the time of its IPO earlier this year, the investors offered more than $5 billion against the actual requisite of $50 million – some faith! But then, it’s all been a matter of toil and no magic, for today, its operations have globally & handsomely spread across different verticals. These are not ordinary strategies; these are the big 3F strategies, as Salil Godika of MindTree Consulting while talking to 4Ps-B&M said, “The 3 pillars of our strategies are: First, focus on superior execution around our core business. Second, focus on growth initiatives and third, focus on identifying future shifts & non-linear models.”

However, the company is not resting on its laurels and is very confident of achieving its hard-line revenue and profit targets of $180 million and $22.6 million respectively by the end of FY08. So what’s the secret broth that’ll help them run past the finishing line before the stopwatch stops? Elaborates Godika, “Over the years, we have built a very strong emotional infrastructure with MindTree minds and this is reflected in MindTree having one of the lowest attrition levels in the industry and many best places to work awards. This human capital values added to our strategies will see us through.” Well, all this is just a sneak peak into the company. One can be rest assured that many more successes, awards, achievements will bear fruit in this ‘tree’ which continues to nurture talent and surprise ‘minds’!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

In the cradle of innovation

ZENSAR: Ganesh Natarajan

In the cradle of innovation


Zensar believes in ‘innovation’ being the differentiating factor, a belief that has for sure delivered the goods... Explaining its intellectual make-up, Ganesh Natarajan, Dy. Chairman & MD, Zensar Technologies expressed confidence as, “The vast repository of knowledge within the organisation, built over the years, is an agile and dynamic value proposition.” Zensar was the first to conceptualise the innovative technology development Solution BluePrint (SBP); a unique framework, which automates software engineering process. “This framework has been our USP & has shown significant productivity improvements in many customer projects. It also forms the framework for our Global Delivery Platform (GDP),” avers V Balasubramanian, Head - Innovative Technology Solutions, Zensar. The company has a strategic focus on the Retail Services sector and has been a provider of domain expertise & IT solutions to Tier-I retailers across the globe for over twelve years now.

Zensar recently acquired the Intellectual Property Rights for Point of Sale (POS) software from domestic Retail-IT firm Seacom Solutions Pvt. Ltd., and is working on further enhancements and licensing out the same. With a vision to become one of the Top 10 Global Oracle providers, it recently acquired a US East Coast-based Oracle company. It has also devised a FTO (First Time Offshoring) methodology, focusing on the large market of companies that have never outsourced before, or have had bitter experiences in the past with outsourcing. No doubt, innovation has taken different shapes and sizes at Zensar; some real reason therefore that it makes it to the India’s Top 20 IT companies list.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Telecom; an era of endless possibilities!

It’s exciting to see how quickly telecom is revolutionising the way we live...

Telecom is a much different place today than it was just five or ten years ago. And the exciting aspect is the pace of change is increasing by the day. Telecom is becoming one of the hottest and most interesting areas to follow. There are so many emerging technologies in telecom that, at times, it is difficult to keep up with the changes happening in this sector.

Yesterday, we were an industry of smaller companies competing in separate sectors. Today we are watching mergers transform the industry. Today we have fewer, but larger companies that compete across sector lines. Today, we see the telephone companies offer services of local, long distance, wireless, internet and now television. And they do this to compete with cable television companies who are also offering a similar big bundle of services.

Yesterday, we used a simple phone service offered by a simple phone company. Today, it can come from a large variety of technologies and companies like telephone companies, cable television companies, wireless companies, broadband companies using VoIP, and more. The wireless business and the broadband business are the most sought after businesses in telecom. Interestingly, these are the areas from where some of the most important ideas are coming up. Like the wireless phone, that logs off of the wireless network when you come home and logs onto your wireline network using a wireless connection, this phenomenon lets customers save money and improves quality at the same time.

Tomorrow, we would have one voice mail box and one phone number and our lives will become much easier to manage. Wireless is becoming a new and different industry. You can still buy traditional wireless phones, but you can also buy a variety of new technologies from a variety of new competitors like Apple with iPhone and Google with their wireless phone. The way they charge for the service can also be different. Interestingly, the cellphone business is breaking into separate sectors; the traditional and the new.

Features on the cellphone have exploded over the last few years, thanks to new technologies and increasing speeds on the network. Over the last few years, we have watched cameras; video, movies, live television, music, and a variety of other features take off.

Today, we use a variety of features other than making voice calls which is what we think we buy the phone for. The cellphone is becoming the third screen, after the television and the computer. Banking is the next big trend on wireless devices. Using the cellphone as a credit card, or to access our bank accounts, to transfer funds or pay bills, is soon to be a reality.

So, buckle your seat belts: the next few years will be more exciting than the period gone by...


For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Aggressive intents

Meet Sanjay Behl, the Marketing Head at RCOM, whose clever strategies changed the rules of mass marketing game in the telecom sector
This is one telecom company, which has maintained its aggressive marketing intents, despite undergoing various advertising and positioning changes over the last four years. Right from the days of the Monsoon Hungama campaign in 2003 to the current Yeh India Ka Cricket Hai, RCOM has always managed to develop an instant connect with its customers. So much so that the brand is now fast closing the gap with market leader Bharti Airtel in number of subscribers. Talking to 4Ps B&M, Sanjay Behl, Marketing & Branding head at RCOM, reveals the strategic mantra behind RCOM’s marketing initiatives.

What has been RCOM’s marketing thrust?

The main thrust of our marketing strategy has been to lead the market growth. And to follow our vision, we at Reliance Communications, have initiated a series of unique and breakthrough initiatives. Whether it is the One India plan, handset bundling, mobile TV, we have always aimed at changing the whole paradigm in customer space.

Visible in all RCOM’s campaigns is the aggressiveness on the pricing front. What is the strategy?
We always strive to stick to our commitment to offer the best deals to our mobile users. In the last few months, we have launched various handsets at varying price points, starting from the Monochrome handsets for Rs.777, Classic Celebrations handsets for RS.999 and the colour handsets for as low as Rs.1234. We also broke the price barrier in the value added service arena by launching a caller tune for Re.1/day.

Most successful RCOM campaign in your opinion?
A campaign which deserves a special mention is RCOM’s Go Colour campaign stating Baton Baton Mein Rang – that really caught on the emotions of mobile users. The Bus Batan Dabao was also a hit, reflecting RCOM’s focus in the VAS market.

What is your strategy for rural markets now?
Targeting the rural customers has been at the forefront of our marketing blueprint. Apart from the ads, we have tried to penetrate deeper into the villages through unique concepts like mobile vans and e-recharging, thus, reaching to almost two lakh retail outlets spread across the country. We have also kick-started the world’s fastest and largest telecom infrastructure roll-out to provide coverage to more than 2,34,000 villages.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

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




Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Chak Diya India!

‘India Disco, Pakistan Khisko’. The entire country was jumping with joy and gay abandon when a bunch of brash youngsters in blue killed the demons of the World Cup debacle and came back with the maiden T-20 World Cup. The swashbuckling Yuvraj Singh created history by smashing six consecutive sixes in one over. Nobody missed the big stars. And Joginder Sharma did to Misbah Ul Haq what Javed Miandad had done to Chetan Sharma more than 20 years ago in Sharjah.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

Monday, July 07, 2008

Wooing the retail investors

So is it that MF companies are really not interested in wooing the retail investors? Says Amit Saxena, CEO, Planman Financial to 4Ps B&M, “Partly, yes! Wooing corporate money is always advantageous from the fund’s standpoint. Leaving Tier I cities, retail investors from other cities are not even thought of by MF houses. But added to this is the fact that even the retail investor is strangely thoroughly disinterested in investing in mutual funds.” Have the Indian retail investors overnight gained the acumen to leverage knowledge of global cues and associated periodic bouts of volatility to directly invest in the stock market? Or have they become so risk averse that they now prefer opting for FDs or insurance products? And why is the continued disinterest of MF firms towards Tier II cities? Saxena of Planman Financial answers, “Over the years, the contribution of the metros toward the AUM of the industry has increased considerably (from 78% in 2001 to 81% in 2006; of which, 49% belongs to corporate clients, banks and FIs and the remaining 32% to retail investors).

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

Friday, July 04, 2008

High on energy and tanked up on optimism... oil’s well with him!

ASHOK SINHA... CMD, BPCL
High on energy and tanked up on optimism... oil’s well with him!

When many public sector units have been performing rather shabbily, in stark contrast, Bharat Petroleum CorporaLtd (BPCL) has consistently made its mark among the Fortune 500 and Forbes 2000 list. A part of the credit can easily go to Ashok Sinha, the man who has been adding value to the company for the last 30 years, almost since its inception in 1976. An IIT alumnus, Sinha served the company in almost every arena; be it finance, corporate affairs, treasury operations and management, before finally taking over the reins as Chairman and MD of BPCL in August 2005. A stalwart of the industry, Sinha is recipient of several awards including the India CFO Award 2001 for Information and Knowledge Management by the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) India. Besides being the CMD of BPCL, he is also on the board of Kochi Refineries Ltd, Petronet LNG Ltd and Bharat Shell Ltd. This astute professional reflects the fortitude of Bharat Petroleum – as also the courage, conviction and pride that got the company to where it is today. Now, he is fuelling BPCL’s belief in the future...

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

Thursday, July 03, 2008

BRAND : Himalaya

AGENCY: Meridian
BASELINE : Himalaya sabse pehle
DESCRIPTION: A girl locks herself inside her room – so that no one sees her skin rashes. The VO says, “Skin trouble agayi poore ghar pe trouble.” Her sister makes sandalwood paste and her brother gets her imported creams – all in vain. The VO says, “Pehle haath se chupayengi, phir baal se, aur weekend pe khud hi chup jaayengi.” The girl buys Himalaya Neem Face Wash and washes her face with it. In the end, the VO says, “To jab devi ji ko pata hi tha to pehle kyon nahi istemal kiya.” 4Ps TAKE: Targeting youngsters (especially looks-conscious girls, who bring the house down!), this is a whacky ad that makes its point effectively. The communication talks about the healing quality of Himalaya’s neem face wash – which works better than home-made remedies and imported stuff! The USP is the Neem that has great medicinal benefits. The ad marries a big brand name with Neem very well, and comes up pretty much on top! Himalaya’s mantra – A Neem face wash a day, keeps the rashes away!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

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