Tweets and Tweet-Nots

I am trying to sound like Haves and Have-Nots. Yes, the “tweets” in the recent pasts have created a lot of trouble for the well known. Everyone seems to riding on the tweeting wave and those who do not are wondering if they are the laggards in the ‘high-tech’ generation of current India. From emails to blogs to social networking to tweet, the world of internet communication is changing a lot and at an alarming rate.

Tweet is short and convenient messaging that offer huge value for the internet savvy individuals who are hard pressed for their time but at the same time want to remain connected with their friends. However, this is just not it, if one asks oneself; tweet is becoming the platform for individuals to speak out to the world, the unknown world. Everyone has a point or opinion and people are finding a platform to express the same. The real advantage that it offers is that it can facilitate a dialogue between the who’s who of the society and any normal individual. One can tweet and ask a question to anyone and people are increasingly replying to these tweets. Those reply acts as an incentive for people to continue tweeting as the dialogue that died in its interpersonal form has evolved into the online platform in the form of tweets. Clearly this characteristic is difficult to reproduce on any other form of online communication (blogs, email etc.) However with newer platforms coming into being it is getting more and more difficult to maintain a healthy presence on all these distinct platforms and increasing people are looking for an integrated tool, not very surprisingly you find many social networking sites providing a feed for your tweet updates.

With 3G mobiles in hand, the tweeting could become increasingly happening phenomenon where the dependency on laptop/computer and an internet connection will go away. One can tweet at any time, from any place and on anything. The world of social networking is evolving rapidly and the form of communication is changing from private to public and from sporadic to real-time. The billion dollar question is where are we heading to, to which next form will this sort of communication evolve into?

How long would it be before all the “enquiry” windows at all the government offices, train stations, depots etc. opens a tweet account and you do not have to stand in a queue just to ask which queue should you stand in next?

The basic ingredient ‘high speed connectivity’ is not too far, the benefit of convenience and the mobile as the device, you have everything at your disposal. Now think this, I take your internet connection and how would it affect you, or I take your mobile and how would it affect you, but but but think this, I take your mobile and internet connection and how would it affect you.

Match the following

I was thinking about writing some small stuff or incidents as you may say but then i realised that it may well be very short but then i don't have twitter account... so thought of putting things differently. Well one do not have time to read long posts and people love to see some variety, so folloing the two rules.. here you go.

We used to have "Match the following" type question in school, so i thought of putting one for you, of course i have my answers, you may have yours :)

Parcel a Meal

I was having lunch with my old friend and his fiancée. We ordered calculated amount of lunch but a small proportion was still left after we were over. I was indifferent to the leftover stuff and as usual busy in chatting with my friend, however the wise lady asked the waiter to parcel the leftover food. Then we had the discussion about the policy of “no food wastage” followed by some righteous people. This ofcourse reminded me of my another friend who never wasted food once taken in his plate and always used to remind me whenever I did left something.

Well, we did parcel the leftover food and gave it to someone sitting on the footpath in the afternoon under the bright sun. I was sitting in the cab while my friend went out to give that parcel to the needy. Little did I realise what that parcel meant for a person living roadside and worrying just how his next meal is going to come. But when I saw the expressions on the face of that needy person I found all that effort was really worth it.

Lets us talk about a normal person, busy with his work and enjoying his weekends with his friends, he seldom find time to contribute something for the society. What does it takes to parcel the leftover food from a restaurant, just asking the waiter to do it for you. No additional effort is required except that you may have to get down from your cab to give it to someone in need but everything is worth it when you notice the true value of your leftover food for someone who may not even have his/her meal for that day.

Certainly, I will parcel a meal again, will you?

Abhivyakti

I was never a poet, you gave me the words to write
I wasn’t an artist either, you made me find my creativity
I was not the leader, you gave me the strength to believe
Neither was I a confident man, But now I can take on this world

I had the wings, you taught me how to fly
I feared big ambitions, you told me not to shy
I had my share of setbacks, you said not to cry
Nothing seems impossible, you always inspired me to try

It was your energy that made me cheer
With your direction I steer
I do not know what more to say
You made me what I am, dear!

I don’t know how I would get along
My feelings for you are, all strong
Wish you along with your dreams, flourish
As it is your friendship that I cherish



[this is my first attempt at writing a poem, i did this on the last but one day of my stay at IIMK; and I wish all my graduating friends all the very best for their future]

The Laundry war gets dirty – P&G vs. HUL

Have you seen the latest Rin ad by HUL, they have claimed that Rin is better than Tide Naturals in the sense that it fights dirt better.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Advertising/Rin-washes-rivalry-linen-with-Tide-in-public-through-new-TV-ad/articleshow/5629626.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz/india-business/Ad-part-of-battle-over-market-share/articleshow/5631730.cms

They have taken an aggressive stance by explicitly taking the name of Tide Naturals in the Ad (and showing Tide Natural Rs20 pack), it is a brave move and could prove to be risky if P&G decides to fight it out in court. Some things are noteworthy in this campaign

· The campaign is run very frequently as you notice this Ad every next minute, it is obvious as HUL is not sure how soon they would be forced to stop airing the Ad if P&G moves to the court, so if damage has to be done, it has to be done quickly
· The Ad launch was timed perfectly with a long weekend coupled with Holi, when people are searching in the cupboard for clothes that they can wear on Holi and are worried that their new clothes should not get dirty anyhow in holi celebrations
· The long weekend also ensures that the Ad gets a breathing time as it will make it difficult for P&G to respond in a quick manner, the decision taking will take more time
· The product compared is Tide Naturals and not normal Tide and a third party Laboratory validation is quoted with an * mark
· The Ad capitalise on “Chauk Gaye” phrase which is synonymous with Tide campaigns and ends with “Aunty chauk kyon gayee”

Surprisingly but cleverly HUL has moved to the court and challenged the use of ‘Naturals’ word by Tide, clearly with a two pronged attack on Tide. Well if you have little idea about the detergent market, HUL has been losing its market share to Tide for a long time and I think it has tried too hard to sustain its market share but whether this new all offensive attack on Tide Naturals will help HUL get back its market share? Time will only tell, but lets see what is P&G options now, how should it counter this attack

1. Move to the court, get a stay on the Ad asap, as it is hitting the brand equity of Tide
2. Launch a counter offensive by doing the laboratory test again and disproving the results otherwise
3. Reinforce the Tide brand by some sales promotions or point of sales events, PR, emphasising the cleaning action of Tide
4. Take the war to a whole new level and include Ariel and Surf Excel, attack stronghold of HUL’s other brands and get even

However, a smarter way would be to tell the consumers that by launching this Ad HUL has inadvertently accepted that Tide is the leader in the category and therefore they are forced to compare their product with Tide and not any other brand, so the customers should realise that Tide is already no1 and every other brand is just comparing itself to Tide and looking to match the brand promise this way or the other. Whatever, P&G’s response will be, I am looking forward to watch the detergent war getting dirtier, lets us see how the brand managers of two prestigious FMCG companies fight it out.

7, 12, 17 …

So what should come next?

Well, I asked this to a Consultant and he told me ‘It depends’, a Financial Analyst told me that it can be no simpler, it is 22 for sure, Mr. Marketer told me that if you do not do anything it will be 22 but if you let me handle that I can increase it, Mr. Accountant told me that he can make the next number anything I want, Mr. Operations told me that whatever it will be he can only handle it if it is within 3σ, Mr HR advised me not to be too inclined to numbers and use some qualitative matrix as well. Now, before you lose interest let me tell you that it is a time series data, does that help you?
Well, I am not sure of the next number in the series. It will depend upon the following

• Number of events happening at local, national or international level that arouse my interest
• Number of people who praises my writing :) or come and comment on my blogs
• The time that I am able to devote to my blog

Yes you get it right, it is the number of blog posts that I have written for the last three years and the next in series will be the total posts that I will write in year 2010 . So what will it be?

2*06 – The one with all the Thumping

Guess where did the name come, well after lot of pushing, I started watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S so the inspiration came from that. But wait the entire story is not about that so those of you who are not really a big FAN of F.R.I.E.N.D.S, can also read on.

I was sitting in my “the very last” lecture at iimk and project presentations were going on, one after the other. Usually these sessions are difficult to sit in, I mean project presentations! People are least interested in the project that their own group did, forget listening to ppt of other groups. So what do you, some people sleep like they don’t care, some people keep on moving in and out of the class and try not to care, some people respect the sanctity of the classroom and sit patiently there, a few try to listen to what is being said by the presenters just because they anyway had to remain in the classroom and have nothing else that can do in a classroom, but everyone is looking at the clock, with every tick of the second you are marginally happy and the diminishing rate of return does not apply here, it’s a increasing rate of utility curve where the utility continue to increase, the more closer you are to the end of the session the higher is the utility of that last of the seconds. Well not anymore!

I wished for the first time in my last ever lecture at iimk that may be the last group had a few more words to say to the class before they say “thank you”, may be some of my ‘kind’ friends who were listening to the presentation had 1-2 questions to ask, may be the professor had something to say to the class before he winds up the session, may be everyone in the class was feeling like I do and may be something was happening for the first time ever that did not happen before, each of us in the class wanted that lecture to go on for a few more seconds, may be minutes and each of us for the first time did not mind if the class overshoots by a couple of minutes. As when the last presentation finished, my eyes did not believed what they saw, my ears wanted to ignore what they were hearing, my mind was trying hard not to waste time in thinking about what is happening, and my heart was beating slowly as if it was saying something to the clock, my goose pimples were trying to hide from being noticed - they did not wanted to appear. I wanted the time to stop, I wanted to be a poet, I wanted to be a photographer, I wanted to be a writer, I wanted to be an artist, because these MBA programs can teach you how to run a 100 crore business but they fail to teach you how to capture moments that matter.

While I was feeling all that, suddenly a cold current ran through my nerves, the heart beat that was going slow jerked up, the mind was puzzled, the two ears were confirming with each other if what they heard was right, the goose pimples couldn't wait any longer...engulfing --almost uplifting-- my body with a feeling that can only be experienced, not described, my whole 2 years flashed in front of my eyes as the last group said “thank you”. That was a dead silence in the classroom, everyone was trying not to look at others, they were looking at the ceiling, the fan, the projector, the board, and then they started thumping the desk. The thumping that did not stop, probably no one wanted this thumping to stop, the thumping was the last hope of each one of us to continue sitting in the class somehow and not leave, the thumping was the only common way out for the emotions that each one of us had, the thumping was the only way to cheer up all those who were feeling bad about the end of the PGP program, the thumping that never looked like it would stop. I did not care if the table break but I desperately did not wanted that thumping to stop.