Impulse Economy

Anatomy of a Fan

2011-08-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

Infographic Of The Day: How To Use Facebook To Market Your Brand | Co. Design:

'via Blog this'

The US Debt Crisis Explained

2011-08-08T23:19:00.001-07:00

Sample and Try – India’s First Try vertising portal

2011-08-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

Sample and Try – India’s First Try vertising portal

Japan has seen a lot of very interesting tryvertising experiments (check out ). I wonder which categories will find favour in India.

Virtual Change Rooms For Online Clothes Stores: Pictures, Photos

2011-08-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

Virtual Change Rooms For Online Clothes Stores: Pictures, Photos

Female shoppers offer growth in India: News from Warc.com

2011-07-28T04:29:00.000-07:00

Female shoppers offer growth in India: News from Warc.com

It reported that women in urban India earned an average of 9,457 rupees ($215; €148; £131) per month in 2010, compared with 4,492 rupees in 2001.

Largely reflecting this shift, typical household income levels rose from 8,242 rupees to 16,509 rupees during the same period.

Elsewhere, the number of participants possessing a credit card reached 10%, measured against 4% in 2001.

STEP INSIDE YOUR ULTIMATE DRIVE on Facebook (1)

2011-07-27T01:45:00.000-07:00

STEP INSIDE YOUR ULTIMATE DRIVE on Facebook (1)

We've seen Intel's Museum of Me and now Johnnie Walker has put together a very neatly packaged interactive experience on facebook.

Shareable: The Gen Y Guide to Collaborative Consumption

2011-07-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

Shareable: The Gen Y Guide to Collaborative Consumption

An awesome guide of tools, networks and a whole lot of perspective on living off the shared economy (including links for sharing rooms, money, toys, handbags and even you vegetable garden!)

The Sharing Economy | Fast Company

2011-07-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

The Sharing Economy | Fast Company: "The evolution of the social web, explains Botsman, first enabled programmers to share code (Linux), then allowed people to share their lives (Facebook), and most recently encouraged creators to share their content (YouTube). 'Now we're going into the fourth phase,' says Botsman, 'where people are saying, 'I can apply the same technology to share all kinds of assets offline, from the real world."

Social Currency and Youth Mobile Trends

2011-07-22T01:09:00.001-07:00

(Graham Brown mobileYouth) Social Currency and Youth Mobile Trends

View more presentations from Graham Brown (mobileYouth)

History of Coupons

2011-07-22T00:15:00.000-07:00

Interesting Infographic via savings.com on the history of couponing. It started way back in 1887!

Your online presence, captured in a single QR code | Springwise

2011-07-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

Your online presence, captured in a single QR code | Springwise

"Now in private beta, New York-based Skanz lets users convey all their online details through a single QR code. To do that, they simply visit the Skanz site and enter all the information they want to share. The result is a QR code that can be affixed to the back of a mobile device or displayed on a wrist band. Either way, every time users meet someone they’d like to follow up with later — whether for business purposes or otherwise — they simply scan each other’s QR codes with a free accompanying app for instant access to the relevant information."

Like Currency

2011-07-19T22:55:00.000-07:00

AmEx Offers Deals Based On Your Facebook Likes

AmEx has leveraged Facebook Deals and Places coupled with their user data to deliver contextual deals. It's a great example of how to take 'like' button beyond engagement and deliver tangible marketing results.

Renault did this at an Auto Show where "The 250,000 visitors to the show were invited to collect their free Renault RFID micro-chip embedded cards from the Renault stand, which they could then link to their Facebook profile. Once the card had been linked, simply swiping it in front a car’s pillar would count as a Facebook “like”, posting a link to that car on the card bearer’s profile. A video showing the pillars in action can be viewed here."

Bacardi used it where The fans could vote with Facebook ‘likes’ for their favorite cocktails, music acts, foods, leisure activities and forms of entertainment, which Bacardi then converted into features at their events. There is no online v/s offline. It's all a mash up and the most imaginative brands are making a mark.

ZMOT

2011-07-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

A Modern Marketing Strategy – Social Media Marketing & ZMOT from Google

The path to purchase just got longer and as marketers we cannot afford to ignore the fact that an increasing share of our audience is spending a lot of time searching, reviewing and buying online. The guys at Google have put together an interesting term - ZMOT - The Zero Moment of Truth - before you hit the shelf and make a decision.. Check out the book and the website.

Google Memory

2011-07-15T02:52:00.000-07:00

Search Engines Change How Memory Works | Wired Science | Wired.com:
"A study of 46 college students found lower rates of recall on newly-learned facts when students thought those facts were saved on a computer for later recovery. If you think a fact is conveniently available online, then, you may be less apt to learn it."

Design Feature > Mitti Cool « INDIAN BY DESIGN

2011-07-15T00:02:00.000-07:00

Design Feature > Mitti Cool « INDIAN BY DESIGN

Check out Mitti Cool.. a refrigerator that does not require an external power source and keeps food fresh for 3-4 days. It takes a week to build one and costs only Rs.2500. A classic rural Indian innovation.

The Music Business Model - revisited

2011-07-14T01:15:00.000-07:00

Spotify Music-Streaming Service Comes to U.S. - NYTimes.com

"Rather than selling individual tracks to be downloaded, subscription services sell monthly access to vast catalogs of music, with whatever songs a listener wants to hear streamed directly to his computer or mobile phone."

The Social Media Pro Book

2011-07-12T11:36:00.001-07:00

Need i say more?

The Social Media ProBook

View more presentations from Eloqua

TV on Twitter?

2011-07-12T11:25:00.000-07:00

Talk about a total media mash up.. Nickelodeon is releasing The Ice Race Cometh--A Twitter Tale is an original story, from the official SpongeBob writing team, and will consist of multiple tweets and images broadcast throughout each day from July 12th to July 15th.

Bahamas and Jammu & Kashmir

2011-07-12T11:08:00.001-07:00

What do the Bahamas and Jammu & Kashmir have in common? They both have almost the same GDP :)

The economist sure gives some interesting perspective.

How to Design a Hot Product - NYTimes.com

2011-07-12T06:23:00.000-07:00

How to Design a Hot Product - NYTimes.com: "Cisco decided to “retire” the Flip brand of camcorders. Immediately, everybody was pointing the finger at the smartphone as the cause. It’s a great story, but far from the real reasons Flip was shut down."

Losing control of your brand on Facebook.

2011-07-11T23:25:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of debate when comes to brands losing control on various social media. Just discovered Vh1 india sucks. It's amazing how a vocal minority (in this case it seems they're like VH1's truest fans, who're pissed with the mainstream / pop content on the channel). It would be stupid for brand managers to just sweep this under the carpet. In fact, i see such a page as an amazing opportunity to strike an honest conversation with your audience and take control.

Lickable Statistics

2011-07-11T05:28:00.000-07:00

Making statistics palatable isn't easy and these guys have done a great job at breathing life into numbers. Check out Village of Hundred People & Gapminder

Online retail sales to surge in India: News from Warc.com

2011-07-11T03:06:00.000-07:00

Online retail sales to surge in India: News from Warc.com:

Among respondents across the entire panel expressing reticence regarding making online purchases thus far, 30% like to research products utilising the internet and buy them from bricks and mortar stores.

A quarter did not want to share financial details electronically and 20% outlined concerns about high delivery costs.

Some 15% had doubts the ordered goods were likely to reach them in suitable condition, and 10% did not possess a debit or credit card.

Data sourced from ASSOCHAM; additional content by Warc staff, 5 July 2011

Frozen in time

2011-07-11T02:21:00.000-07:00

Check out dearphotograph - a collection of old pictures juxtaposed against the same setting in the current environment. It's an interesting story telling tool... i wonder if this could work for brands like Olay and Ponds and the rest of the anti-aging bandwagon ;)

InfoGraphic - What Happens In 60 Seconds On The Internet [Infographic] - PSFK

2011-07-11T02:06:00.000-07:00

What Happens In 60 Seconds On The Internet [Infographic] - PSFK

Remarketables 6.29.11 | Blog | design mind

2011-07-11T02:00:00.000-07:00

Remarketables 6.29.11 | Blog | design mind

Overheard

2011-07-04T03:16:00.000-07:00

Brands are what people say they are.

Best of Cannes 2011

2011-07-04T02:21:00.000-07:00

A convenient, easy to digest version of what we missed at Cannes 2011

100 Bullet Points from #CannesLions 2011 by @jessedee

View more presentations from @JESSEDEE

thanks to http://www.slideshare.net/jessedee

Groceries on Facebook

2011-07-01T02:44:00.001-07:00

Check out AaramShop - a groceries on facebook service currently limited to New Delhi so far. I wonder if retail margins in India (anywhere between 8 to 15%) allow a profitable home delivery model even when scaled up. Besides, I think this service is relevant only to the ones who're totally addicted to facebook and spend considerable time on it everyday.

Having said that, Facebook certainly has reached a critical mass in India with whopping 29mn users!! (via Socialbakers.com)

The Art of Profiting from User Generated Content

2011-06-30T22:43:00.000-07:00

Astonishing numbers on UGC.

There are 360 Billion pieces of content (defined as links, notes, photos, etc.) uploaded on Facebook every year!!!

via Fastcodesign

Scary

2011-06-28T03:28:00.000-07:00

Some shocking market share news about Nokia in Australia. Beginning to wonder if Nokia might end up as Motorola. It's scary to think that the lives of such massive corporations could be so fragile.

How shoppers interact with retailers online

2011-06-25T02:09:00.000-07:00

NRF's Digital arm that tracks online purchase behaviour just published a report on behaviour and attitude on Social Commerce. Interesting to note that 54% of shoppers had commented about their shopping experience on Facebook. As a brand - you cannot afford not having an Online Reputation Management team. Brands get pounded all the time on facebook and the Vodafone case just showed us what an immature reaction can do it's brand

Facebook Commerce

2011-06-25T02:06:00.001-07:00

A simple video that explains it all.. more on this space soon

Homeplus - taking the store to the shopper

2011-06-25T01:54:00.000-07:00

The HomePlus Subway store turns around the concept of shopper marketing right on it's head. It simply puts the needs of the shopper first and everything else takes care of itself. No doubt it won a Cannes Media Grand Prix. Unconventional and effective.

McWeddings

2011-03-17T03:36:00.000-07:00

believe it or not.. McDonald's in HongKong hosts wedding parties.. allowing couples and their guest to reminisce the good old days in school when they used to hang out there.

“The generation getting married today grew up doing their studying at McDonald’s,” Mr. Mathews said. That was one of the chain’s prominent roles in the 1980s and 1990s — as a safe haven where students could study and stay off the streets. In the U.S. and other places, middle-class or upper-middle-class people look down on McDonald’s,” he said. “But Hong Kong is different. A McDonald’s wedding wouldn’t be seen as tacky here.”

via NYtimes

More on store-back branding

2011-03-16T03:41:00.000-07:00

via Forbes

Discount woes

2011-01-19T03:52:00.000-08:00

as seen on facebook..

Productizing Services

2011-01-13T02:19:00.000-08:00

It can't get better than this.. hats off to SOTC for making travel so simple..

"Buyers (or recipients) of SOTC Box Holidays need only call to schedule the dates on which they'd like to redeem the package. Pricing begins at INR 7,000 for a three-day, two-night domestic getaway for two, and travel can be done at any time within the package's validity period. International packages begin at INR 47,410 for four days and three nights, and price protection against exchange rate fluctuations is included. Also packaged into many Box Holidays are holiday vouchers, value add-ons, discount coupons, destination information, tips and other freebies. SOTC Box Holidays are available at Globus stores in Mumbai and select BigBazaar outlets in Delhi, as well as online." via Springwise

coupons and advertising..

2011-01-12T21:59:00.000-08:00

One of Michael Scrage's top predictions for 2011. he says the relevance of advertising will decrease and the role of coupons and promotions will become far more relevant in today's times. excerpt below:

"Advertising will take a backseat to promotional offers as retailers and brand managers alike collectively decide that branding a promotion matters just as much as promoting a brand. Next year will be the first year that almost half of all American and European shoppers have a digital coupon in their device almost half the times they shop."

Clearly, media budgets will be diverted towards vehicles which are more transparent and measurable.. something TV and the rest of them haven't been able to fix.

opportunity in complexity

2011-01-12T21:50:00.000-08:00

in a world of a million choices these guys simplify it all.

justbuythisone

nosittinonthefencewithpseudotechnobabble.. its real. its opinionated.

Eye on Asia Retail Study

2010-08-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

Global marketing communications agencies Grey and G2 have released the insights, better known as 'eyesights', obtained from their 2010 Eye on Asia Retail Study.

a snapshot of shopper segmentation from the study - "The study found that based on their mindsets and behaviours, shoppers can be segmented into four tribes, namely loyal listers (who follow their list passionately due to familiarity and confidence with the brands), engaged info-seekers (who are hungry for information and knowledge about the brands), whim indulgers (who are excited with variety, have no prior plan and enjoy trials and demos) and passive value fans (who research brands via word of mouth/newspapers prior to the in-store trip and are driven by promotion offers, sales and VIP discounts)."

via Afaqs

Digital Coupons @ Kroger

2010-08-12T01:44:00.001-07:00

spotted at Brandweek - Kroger simplifies digital couponing

some quick facts from the article.. "According to a recent Knowledge Networks study, 29 percent of consumers who use coupons are exclusively using digital versions. The digital coupon user is also an attractive consumer: 53 percent of those redeeming digital coupons are trying a product for the first time (compared to 32 percent who redeem traditional paper coupons).

Redemption rates are considerably higher for digital coupons—somewhere between 5 percent and 20 percent—per ABI Research. Some retailers have reported 40 percent redemption rates for highly targeted offers.

Digital couponing, in general, jumped by 84 percent in the first half of this year, compared to the same period in 2009, Kantar Media found. There are 200 manufacturers now distributing digital coupons, a 31.5 percent increase."

Happiness as a brand proposition

2010-08-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

How coke does it..

How Unilever does it..

Virtual dressing room

2010-08-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

made by Metiao for JC Penny..

'Shopper Back' Communication

2010-08-09T00:46:00.000-07:00

Traditionally ad campaigns were designed for TV and Print and later adapted to other media.. as these media caught on as significant channels, agencies moved to the 360 degree integrated communications approach which had a central big idea which could be rendered across (having said that, there are few agencies can pull off a real 360 campaign which does not lean heavily on a TVC)

now with brands and agencies waking up to shopper marketing i wonder if we'll start seeing communication which starts with the shopper in mind. this is an outside in approach where retail plays the lead medium. KARUNA RAWAL of ARC Worldwide calls this the 'Shopper Back' approach "..It’s a philosophy that begins with a holistic view of the shopper and her behavior, and works back from there. It puts her on center stage, starting with an individual shopper and her very personal shopping journey".

one could argue that these campaigns could be more tactical in nature but i'd sure like to see this take off!

via HUB Magazine

Bozo Explosion

2010-08-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to hire a junior to mid level client servicing position for the shopper marketing team here at Ogilvy.

and it's hard not to hire a bozo.

it's more to do with who the person is rather than his/her domain knowledge. it's about the attitude, orientation, a certain innate curiosity that would lead to interesting results. i used to think that only fields like advertising or other 'creative' professions need such skills. but the fact is that unless you are in manufacturing 'more of the same' is not a good thing. as cliched as it may sound i sincerely believe that the business world needs more artists, painters, philosophers and designers rather than batch processed MBAs.

that brings me to one of my favourite speakers - Guy Kawasaki who talks about the Bozo explosion. this is one must see video (starting 27min 30s) from his presentation called Art of the Start.

Shopper Marketing - Coca-Cola

2010-07-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

Finally it's out. Our team at Ogilvy Action just won the Shopper Marketing AOR.

Danny Comar - regional creative director at Ogilvy Action who maintains an action packed blog writes about the pitch strategy

advertising driving competition sales

2010-07-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

Came across a report where advertising a particular product ended up being favorable for the competing brand which was hardly advertising. the advertised product did not have the same distribution strength as the competition. the ads pushed the category and consolidated the leader's position.

it happens to colas and chips which are high impulse, low involvement items with no product differentiation and identical pricing. i can't really think of any more categories where this phenomenon holds true.

now just consider the marketing dollars spent in these categories. makes me wonder..

the 'why not' impulse shopper

2010-07-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed how a lot of shoppers are snapping up high value goods at impulse? impulse used to be the chocolate bar or the a new stationery item at the check out.. but not any more.. with rising incomes in urban india, the younger lot tends to splurge more on entertainment and lifestyle items. what really fuelling this trend is the availability of quick EMIs.. so it isn't surprising to see a young executive picking up a Wii just because he's heard so much about it or buying a LCD TV because there's a big football game later that week..

what's interesting is that if you'd ask this person whether he's looking to buy a new TV or a game console he will deny it. but once he's inside the store it's a different story altogether. with the right in-store communication cues, the premise shifts from 'do i need this?' to 'why not?'. he knows he doesn't need it, he confirms he can afford it, and he rationalizes that he's deserved it. bingo!

post purchase rationalization can be the easiest traps a shopper can fall into and most can be effectively leveraged at point of sale.

the 5 whys of everything

2010-06-03T00:01:00.001-07:00

get down to it.. dig deeper. ask why. 5 times. and you'll see

"...One such technique is called Five Whys, which has its origins in the Toyota Production System, and posits that behind every supposedly technical problem is actually a human problem. Applied to a start-up, here's how it works:

1. A new release broke a key feature for customers. Why? Because a particular server failed.
2. Why did the server fail? Because an obscure subsystem was used in the wrong way.
3. Why was it used in the wrong way? The engineer who used it didn't know how to use it properly.
4. Why didn't he know? Because he was never trained.
5. Why wasn't he trained? Because his manager doesn't believe in training new engineers, because they are "too busy."

as seen on HBR Blogs

the zero sum game

2009-11-17T03:55:00.000-08:00

teams cannot be pushed beyond a point. our jobs often expect more out of us and the people we work with. generally the answer we resort to is PUSH. push harder. we want more things done in less time with a limited budget but without compromising quality.

it just doesn't work.

if you push them on one front, they're likely to screw up / give in / compromise on another. people are a zero sum game. ignoring this axiom may cause project delays, quality issues, over shot budgets and other project management headaches..

Of Mice & Men

2009-07-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

picture this..

you see an ad. in the newspaper.. or get a coupon from a reputed sports brand with a "flat 40% discount" only to later discover the fine print (with half a dozen terms & conditions which makes the original bargain ineffective). you feel cheated even before you walk into the store... the marketer is happy that he designed a clever mouse trap. the prospect is just hoping he can still salvage a deal and try not to get screwed.

The problem begins when, as a marketer, you stretch the truth.. when you break the rules of the game. its not that complex from a customers POV.. all the while s/he is thinking..

"ok, you got my attention,
you promised me its going to be a good deal,
im curious.. i want this!
what? i thought you said...
hell.. that's just cheating.
i've had enough of you!"

as marketers, we over complicate the simple stuff.. we over analyze the facts, we're infatuated with what the competition is doing and are misguided by short term traffic drivers/volume builders.. once this happens, we start taking liberties with our customers. that's where the cracks begin to show up.. there is no trust. price & discounts become the only currency.. brand loyalty is an illusion in the marketer's head. its hard to figure out why most brands still opt for well crafted (read deceitful) copy when honesty is such an under-leveraged principal.

the problem with mouse traps is that even when successful they're meant for mice, not men.

the truth is - honesty always works*

*conditions apply

The World's Biggest Fan

2009-01-27T02:38:00.000-08:00

Financial Meltdown. War in Gaza. Terror strikes in Mumbai. Poisoned babies in China. Fraudsters and Ponzi schemes. Some lost fortunes.. some families.

and then this..

what a context to build your story around..

gracebatmonkey said:
"I wish it were longer.
What a weird thing to want in an ad."

or as ForsakenSoul14 wonders:
"Is there a way to replay this song over and over again for the rest of my life?"

there are 10137 total comments on the youtube video so far.. wow!

simplicity weaved into beauty... it never gets old huh?

2008-12-09T08:05:00.000-08:00

she can't draw... so she doodles

How to take a consumer product idea to a prototype phase?

2008-09-30T03:34:00.000-07:00

a question on linkedin by Stacy Zhao -

"How to take an consumer product idea to a prototype phase?
- I have an idea for a consumer product that I am looking to create a prototype of, but I do not have any experience in this space nor do I have any immediate connections who can help me. What steps can I take to find a professional to help me refine my idea and/or create a model or prototype of the product? How much of the process should I try to tackle myself? Thanks for any insights."

my answer:

"Stacy,

there are several professional design firms / individuals that can help you transform your idea into a complete product. best in class are one's like Ideo / Frog Design / Yves Bahar but they choose their clients. i'd try and answer the second part of your question - "how much of the process should i try and tackle myself"

the problem with most consumer products is that everyone has an opinion of what it should be like. specially at the early stages. most new ideas are not born out of high technology but are more of a subtle reconfiguration of the elements that make the product unique. this uniqueness is already well articulated, crisp and crystallized in your head. you know why it will matter to the user and this is your biggest contribution.

hence, before going to a professional it is important to articulate your product - some aspects of the product may be absolutely critical to you (e.g. it should fit into your pocket, or it should be lighter than a notebook) and you should stand by them no matter what.

your original idea will definitely evolve as you go through the phases of prototyping through manufacturing for large volume and it is good to be open and aware of how the slightest change in product configuration will have an overall market impact. sometimes overzealous designers try and "innovate" and you're often left with a diluted version of your original idea. on the other hand good designers will try to re-work the entire process, materials, manufacturing partners and everything if s/he is sold on your vision. i'd recommend you to be closely involved with the process of translating your product vision into a finished product and stay as hands on as possible."

high art.. low tech.

2008-08-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

i've always believed that great products are not necessarily born out of high technology. they're a factor of creative thought. it's a frame of mind which allows you to obsess as much on the color of the product as on the choice of processor.(i know a lot of people think this is stupid, but i can't explain it any other way - it comes with the package).

some of the most notable consumer tech. products in the last 3 years were - the iphone, the olpc-XO, the nintendo wii and none of them broke new ground in terms of technology. In the crudest terms, all these products were configured with the right features based on existing technologies. of course, the trick is to figure out what constitutes "right".

i was just reading through a post in ars technica on the Wii - "Even though the Wii is the most advanced motion-controlled gaming console ever released, the technology inside the remote is surprisingly basic and already dated." Of course, the Wii blew away the PS3 and the XBox360 and is a cultural phenomenon that an entire generation of kids and their grannys' are growing up on..

reminds me of Alan Kay's - "Appreciate mundanity: after all, a pencil is high technology".

Heatmaps

2008-08-19T23:43:00.001-07:00

This is a heatmap based on wifi signal strength.. "the tool allocates a 2D grid that overlaps the geographical sample area, working out the average signal strength based on nearby sample points."

the beauty about heat maps is that they hold a lot of information in a single frame. Hemang's been creating a heat map for mapping shopper movement, dwell times etc. for retail stores. instead of going through heaps of analytical data in the form of excel sheets, a heat map is a simple visual tool which can be used across a retail organization - right from category managers to operations, marketing and even store employees to understand the impact of store layout and merchandising.

of course, when one starts co-relating the hot and cold zones in a store with the shopper demographics (through a loyalty card) and their buying preferences (through purchase history databases) the heat map can turn into a retail gold mine..

What makes a happy product?

2008-08-03T05:32:00.000-07:00

A great question on linkedin by Karen Vu
One simple happy question: How do you make a 'happy' product ?

my answer: maybe it's fuzziness.. quirkiness.. asymmetry.. simplicity.?. an unexpected response to a stimuli.. fragrance.. color.. taste.. sound. temperature? lack there of?music? a clean slate? dark chocolate? vermillion? white? stars? fading light? is it R2D2? i dont know? deviant is a prerequisite.. triggers of memory.. metaphors that take you to another world. that make you fall in love. that bring inanimate objects to life.

humanity in unexpected places/things.. makes a happy product.

fun@proto

2008-07-25T05:51:00.000-07:00

Last week was crazy.. we presented our first product to a large audience at IIT Delhi..were blown away by the response. here are a few views:

twittering away
mayankgupta Blink! founder says he'll change the way we shop!!!! Holy crap another
ecommerce site!!! BOO!!! 01:00 PM July 19, 2008 from TweetDeck

mayankgupta my god! I was wrong! it's something physical! 01:01 PM July 19, 2008 from TweetDeck

mayankgupta HOLY! CRAP THIS LOOKS HOT!!! Blink will really change the shopping experience....very very unlike india! 01:02 PM July 19, 2008 from TweetDeck

mayankgupta #proto4 - Blink has got touch screen like iPhone..the same scroll effect ! Awesome stuff 01:04 PM July 19, 2008 from TweetDeck

mayankgupta @aDeSe Blink is too hot...the best thing Ive seen at proto...what say ?? 01:06 PM July 19, 2008 from TweetDeck in reply to aDeSe

;)

a few links..

A Slideshare Presentation
Top 5 Presentations - AurusIT Blog
HT Mint on Proto
VC Circle - Rahul Khanna's view on Startups
Siddharth's blog
delhi was fun.. looks like a crazy month ahead..

few more pics from flickr

the presentation..

questions from the audience..

one for the poster..

blink@proto

2008-07-14T03:34:00.000-07:00

yes. we missed it last time due to conflicting dates, but we'll be there later this week at Proto'08 at IIT Delhi.. Accompanying me will be my team mates Sawan & Hemang and our very first product - the intelligent shopping cart.

See you at Proto.

Alan Kay Talk - 1982

2008-06-19T11:29:00.000-07:00

omg! these are actual notes written by Andy Hertzfeld (don't bother if you don't know) from a Alan Kay talk he attended in 1982. it's a gold mine..

Alan Kay's talk at Creative Think seminar, July 20, 1982

Outline of talk: Metaphors, Magnetic Fields, Snobbery and Slogans

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

Humans like fantasy and sharing:
Fantasy fulfills a need for a simpler, more controllable world.

Sharing is important - we're all communication junkies. We have an incredible bandwidth disparity (easy to take in, hard to give out); our devices have the reciprocal disparity (hard to take in, easy to give out)

Metaphors:
Computer as medium (like clay or paint)
Computer as vehicle
Computer as musical instrument

Magnetic Fields:
Find a central metaphor that's so good that everything aligns to it. Design meetings are no longer necessary, it designs itself. The metaphor should be crisp and fun.

Smalltalk is object-oriented, but it should have been message oriented.

Snobbery:
Turn up your nose at good ideas. You must work on great ideas, not good ones.

Appreciate mundanity: after all, a pencil is high technology

One goal: the computer disappears into the environment

The computer shouldn't act like it knows everything.

The whole notion of 'programming language' is wrong.

Slogans:
Better is the enemy of best
Relative judgements have no place in art
Systems programmers are high priests of a low cult
Point of view is worth 80 IQ points
Good ideas don't often scale

Remember, it's all software, it just depends on when you crystallize it.

People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.

Final advice: content over form, go for fun."

The Perfect Fit - Interactive Store Concept

2008-06-12T23:33:00.000-07:00

above: the Adidas Mi Innovation Center

"This 70-square-meter "multisensory" installation-cum-retail-store allows consumers to test Adidas' (ADSG.DE) high-end products and services. A user's foot can be scanned while walking an LED-filled catwalk. Data is then transferred via infrared light to a PC, and an appropriate shoe can be instantly configured using an online interface. This in-store concept, which combines modern technology and ergonomics with customers' individual requirements, won in the interactive media category."

discovered via businessweek

Just around the corner - Retail Innovations

2008-05-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

Just scanned through the TNS RetailForward report on retail tech. a few thoughts..

As we go about exploring different applications I believe that the right application will be a customer interface which allows the customer to make a better/quicker decision that ultimately lead to up-selling / cross-selling opportunities for brands & retailers.

More importantly, it is imperative for us to understand these interfaces are currently "nice to have" and will become "must haves" only after putting it to actual use. Once people get a taste of such seductive interfaces they'd be hooked. This approach to user experience along with results based on data-mining will make it hard for brands to ignore the medium.

I belong to the school of thought which believes that people don't know what they want unless you show it to them. I think the timing is just right for the entire space to take off in a big way in about 2-3 years time.

Anyhow.. here's the list:

1. Biometric Fingerprint Payment
A shopper can pay for purchases by placing his/her finger on a sensor that reads the fingerprint, linking it to the shopper’s bank account or credit card to record the purchase.

2. Interactive Dressing Room Help
Using a digital touch screen, a shopper in the dressing room can communicate with sales personnel—without having to return to the sales fl oor to search for help.

3. Smart Carts
A smart cart incorporates interactive technology via a video screen on the front of the shopping cart, enabling customers to locate products, access shopping lists, check prices, receive promotions and coupons, and scan purchases. The technology also can provide retailers and suppliers with rich data on the shopping trip.

4. 3D Body Scanning
A scan of a shopper’s body will be used to make recommendations about the brands and specific clothes most likely to fit well, or to help fit custom-made clothes.

5. Collaborative Product Development Websites
Product developers will encourage consumers to post ideas and answer surveys online
about new products and how existing products can be improved.

6. Group Buying by Consumers
Shoppers join online collaborative shopping communities to aggregate their buying power with other shoppers.

7. Networked Shopping
Networked devices in the home—such as refrigerators—will monitor what products
consumers use, create shopping lists and communicate with other devices to arrange
deliveries.

8. Interactive Dressing Room Mirror
It looks like any other mirror but is actually a high-resolution digital screen with a camera that can relay live video and project holographic images of clothing items so customers can see how they will look in an outfit without trying it on.

9. Shopping by Mobile Phone
Shoppers will use mobile devices to place orders and arrange delivery from remote locations.

10. Holographic Sales Assistant
Shoppers will interact with an in-store hologram that can answer questions and facilitate merchandise transactions.

11. Shopping ‘Social Network’ Websites
Shoppers share information about the hottest stores, designers, trends and must-have products—all online. Retailers and suppliers will be able to monitor social networking sites to find out what consumers want and take early action to develop and stock those products.

12. Sales and Product Information via Mobile Phone (Based on Location)
Shoppers will opt-in to networks that send them text messages about sales, products and retailers that are relevant to the shopper’s current location.

via TNS RetailForward

Negotiating with Wal-Mart - HBS Casestudy

2008-04-29T23:19:00.000-07:00

"Sarah Talley was 19 in 1997, when she first began negotiations to supply Wal-Mart with her family farm's pumpkins and watermelons". That's a case study on how suppliers / vendors live in a wal-mart world. Sarah enlists some of her basic negotiating principles - my favorite takeaway - "Do not let Wal-Mart become more than 20 percent of your company's business. It's hard to negotiate with a company that controls yours."

That brings me to another interesting story about Vlasic's pickles - whose fortunes changed when they started shipping to wal-mart. to quote from the fastcompany article "The pickle maker had spent decades convincing customers that they should pay a premium for its brand. Now Wal-Mart was practically giving them away. And the fevered buying spree that resulted distorted every aspect of Vlasic's operations, from farm field to factory to financial statement."

Vlasic went bankrupt. This not to say that companies dealing with these big boys of retail are likely to that way.. but it's hard to stay on top of a deal when you are a commodity. after all "a pickle is a pickle is a pickle."

The extent of the large retailers' control over the process cannot be undermined.. "It also is not unheard of for Wal-Mart to demand to examine the private financial records of a supplier, and to insist that its margins are too high and must be cut."

I don't think bending over backwards to please a goliath is workable strategy. It is easy to convince oneself that the loss in margins will be made up in volume. You can't negotiate with them on their terms, you've got to have something thats not easily replacable, not easily commoditized to make a sustainable deal. either ways, it's a tough line to walk. i believe that if you treat your product like a commodity - you're treating you're customers like commodities - and that's always a race to the bottom. getting it cheaper has never been my play. i'd like to create things that people will fall in love with. where the retailer is mere broker between the creator and the user. that would be a different ball game altogether ;)

cartoon via gapingvoid.com

Insights on Product Design

2008-04-13T23:54:00.001-07:00

I love the NYtimes.. they have this canny sense of picking up distant signals that point to a megatrend. a recent article
shows us the world view of a Nokia anthropologist, who scours the world for ideas and inspirations that drive product design at Nokia. It's an insightful piece on how the cell phone is tranforming lives and what really impressed me was the richness of the research that Jan Chipcase had gathered through his travels across continents. words, objects, pictures, places, people, faith, sounds, smells, nothing escapes Chipcase.

Here's a glimpse..

| View | Upload your own

More on adoption of new tech.

2008-04-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

"The problem is that it's not particularly clear at what point a disruptive innovation becomes a utility. As innovators it's important that we recognize that this point will arrive and prepare for it. I believe that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the technologies we create, and to take responsibility for protecting people who come to rely on those technologies to live their daily lives. When we fail to do that, we may find ourselves being cast as either fools or villains who must be regulated and controlled."

from the O'Reilly blog

Adoption of New Technology

2008-04-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

There was a time when the telephone used to be a hot new technology still limited in use.. here's a picture from the year 1931, when a school demonstrated the functionality of a phone "to help initiate its students into the mysteries of the tele-phonic business instrument". It's quite amusing to see how something so inevitable and indispensable seemed more like a cool gadget. If you trace the history of any consumer electronics product, it always starts looking more like a "nice to have" rather than a "must have"

The Future of Advertising

2008-03-28T03:54:00.000-07:00

A great presentation by Paul Isakson. My biggest take away - "Treat me well and i'll return the favor".

| View | Upload your own

Datamining, diapers & beer

2008-03-28T01:48:00.000-07:00

As far as retail merchandising goes, the story of how datamining helped discover the affinity between beer and diapers is folklore.. for the uninitiated, it goes something like this.."For example, one Midwest grocery chain used the data mining
capacity of Oracle software to analyze local buying patterns. They discovered that when men bought diapers on Thursdays and Saturdays, they also tended to buy beer. Further analysis showed that these shoppers typically did their weekly grocery shopping on Saturdays. On Thursdays, however, they only bought a few items. The retailer concluded that they purchased the beer to have it available for the upcoming weekend. The grocery chain could use this newly discovered information in various ways to increase revenue. For example, they could move the beer display closer to the diaper display. And, they could make sure beer and diapers were sold at full price on Thursdays."

Adlab points us out to a source that reveals "the story of "data mining, beer and diapers" is NOT a good example of the possiblities for decision support with current data mining technologies."

Breakout

2008-03-09T01:31:00.000-08:00

"Somewhere lower than stratospheric bestsellerdom, but higher than the obscurity of the long tail.." A 1000 fanboys is all it takes to break out.. must read this gem by Kevin Kelly.

Undo

2007-12-18T01:19:00.000-08:00

Paul Bucchiet, the creator of Gmail, believes thatall actions must have 'undo'. "After an action is performed, state what the action was and give an opportunity to undo, but in a non-intrusive way."

Once users know there's undo, they'd be happy to try out new features, play with the options and generally feel comfortable wandering through the interface. As he puts it, "the more we can lower the costs of making mistakes, the faster we can move."

In another post he elaborates.. "To design great products, we must truly empathize with our users, and understand that if they are having problems using our products, is more likely our fault, not theirs. This isn't the same as the disdainful or patronizing attitudes too often expressed by engineers and other technical people. Our users aren't dumb, they just have better things to do than waste time understanding poorly designed software."

If life had an undo, what won't you do?
(picture via Folley Gallery)

Undercurrent?

2007-12-13T05:38:00.000-08:00

Bill Gerba is worried about the consequences of data misuse.

Adrian Cotterill of DailyDOOH points us out to a study on User Acceptance of Intelligent Screens. Interestingly it is described as a research "..about a (yet) non-existent product. With this research we hope to find out what you think as a consumer about this product and if you will accept the product."

I just stumbled upon an article by the Economist on shopper monitoring technologies.

I believe we've come to point of no return.. Pervasive environments, smart technologies, intelligent media are here to stay. That they're coming out of labs and pilots, driven with commercially feasible models for mass market applications is comforting. Big Retailers are convinced that the future is now. Of course we'd always find nay-sayers telling us..
- it's a fad
- it's too early
- it's too much
- it's too scary
- technology is not robust
- costs are not feasible
- shoppers aren't ready for this

Some of the concerns are quite valid. Specially about commercial feasibility and privacy. But for those who believe that "Customers aren't ready" are just in denial. Most innovations that seem too niche or even irrelevant for mass adoption start at the margins. For those on the inside, here's a quote from Paul Graham..

"If you really want to score big, the place to focus is the margin of the margin: the territories only recently captured from the insiders. That's where you'll find the juiciest projects still undone, either because they seemed too risky, or simply because there were too few insiders to explore everything."

Why we love Minority Report

2007-12-12T08:46:00.001-08:00

It's been quite sometime since the last post.. and Bill Gerba of Wirespring got me out of this slumber. His post on "Who'll watch the watchers" caught my attention. He writes about a Minority Report like situation, where pervasive technologies sense people's identities, locations, purchase habits and beam personalized content on screens everywhere. It may look cool in a Tom Cruise sci-fi flick, but will it be the same if you and I are faced with such a reality? He is concerned that we will not have a chance to opt-out of such personalized messaging and will come to accept it as default without realizing the extent of privacy invasion that such networks will deliver to marketers.

He clarifies "Perhaps I'm making too much of this, but I think it's critical to hear some opinions on the matter before the tech becomes commonplace and there's nothing that anyone can do about it."

here's my take on the situation..
"Recognition Technologies, Recommendation Engines & Screens are a lethal combo for a marketer, but it need not be otherwise for shoppers. my guess is that retailers who decide to have a ambient system where shoppers cannot opt-out will suffer. also, one must not ignore that we're already experiencing something very similar with online. It took us less than 7 years to start seeing everything around us through the google lens. we depend on it to make sense of the what's around the internet. with clutter becoming commonplace, the choices before consumers are overwhelming and my guess is we'd be happy to accept anything that makes our lives simpler. making content relevant, making it personal beyond the internet has already begun.."

Design Articulation

2007-10-23T06:07:00.000-07:00

Designers are problem solvers.. and to crack a problem it needs to be articulated right. It needs words/pictures/metaphors etc that define the problem in context of the situation. I came across this exceptional piece of articulation on frog design's website.. it goes something like this..

"The Disney brand association needed to be obvious, yet subtle. The goal wasn't to create a "Mickey Mouse phone," but a phone that lives in the same universe that created Mickey Mouse."

It may seem like a clever play of words but it isn't. In one sentence they've defined the essence of the character they want to create. It is rare to come across such insightful articulation. It is the starting point of every design process. Yet, it is easy to rush through this process and to get on with the core task of execution. I have been guilty of this myself, but i believe awareness is a good starting point ;)

talking about articulation i would highly recommend reading Paul Graham's Taste for Makers. If you go through his essays you'd see a very clear thought process laid out in front of the reader..i like the way he starts with a hypothesis (which is generally bold/audacious), builds layers of context and systematically rips apart possible alternates before arriving at his core idea and which appears to be so obvious and logical if you follow his trail of thoughts.. the rest of his essays are here

FMOT

2007-10-08T02:16:00.000-07:00

P&G takes it seriously. They even have a 15 member department dedicated to it with 50 members in its team worldwide. P&G thinks it's too important to be left at the fringes..

Though the concept isn't new, such firm commitment to First Moment of Truth is a great initiative. This was almost 2 years ago when the Wall Street Journal published this article on in-store marketing and it's increasing relevance in the overall media plan.

It's the dynamics of a purchase decision that make this medium so powerful. There is a lot of buzz about in-store media in India, specially with big players like Future Media and OOH Media making massive investments upfront to create national footprints in Retail Television. Enough's been said about the medium and its advantages.

DailyDooh on the Captive Audience Myth

2007-10-08T01:24:00.001-07:00

Adrian J. Cotterill maintains a great blog on the Digital OOH industry called the dailydooh. He responded to my query on classifying retail media as captive audience networks. Adrian clarifies how the captive audience schtick is nothing short of a myth..

via dailydooh - "Steve Yetsko, Director of Media Research Services at VideoMining Corp believes that the actual idea of ”Captive Audience” is a myth.

He says “If (Captive Audience) were true, increased traffic would have to mean increased viewer ship. I can show that times of peak traffic are often NOT times of peak engagement. many times the exact opposite is true”"

I hope to meet Adrian and some of the other esteemed speakers at Digital Signage Asia later in November.

Another nail in the coffin...

2007-10-08T01:02:00.000-07:00

Some of you might be quite skeptical about my earlier post on the coming onslaught on Big TV Networks, but the first wave has already begun... There are probably dozens of startups working on changing the rules of the game but nothing quite like Participitory Culture Foundation. (via Wired.com)

CD Baby - Order Confirmation

2007-09-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Came across this wonderful post thanks to The Selling Sherpa This is how CD Baby confirms your order...

“Thanks for your order with CD Baby!

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Wednesday, September 19th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'. We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!”

The Myth of the Captive Audience. - Part 2

2007-09-13T10:29:00.001-07:00

There is more to in-store digital media than hanging lcd screens from a ceiling. Most strategies involve planting screens in high traffic areas and charging advertisers on a CPM model. It's worse than the TV model. It's still interruption. And you cant even turn it off.

So how do you get it right? Be a shopper and not a marketer. Don't watch shoppers, be one and this is what you will see...

1. Get the Line of Sight right.
It's quite simple. If your message is in line with where the shopper is looking she is more likely to notice it. You can't get this one wrong.

2. Speed = Distance / Time. Sub 10sec spots.
Shoppers move at different speeds in different parts of the store. The content needs to be in tune the speed. If you have a 20sec spot where an average shopper does not spend more than 10sec then the she is likely to miss at least half of your message!! Yet most networks ignore this reality. If you cant customize your spot length according to shopper dwell times, if you cant do that stick to the 10 second rule. Its not optimum but it works in most cases.

3. Talk Sense
I have never understood why digital media guys love horoscopes. By doing this they automatically talk to only 8% of the audience. To add to this clever ploy, the text is long and in a font thats hard to read from a distance of more than 5 feet. Now, do you see your shopper doing that?

You need to stay relevant. One easy way of being relevant is by talking about whats around the screen. Narrowcast your content by location. Its more likely to be noticed.

4. Less is more
Shoppers hate it when ambience is too cluttered. She is already in a high impulse environment with plenty too choose from, don't intrude on her space. Don't invade every line of sight. Banner blindness is a well known phenomena in internet advertising and the same applies here. Too many screens inside stores can cause shopper fatigue. You want happy shoppers and not stressed out folks dying to get out of your store. The same applies to audio. keep it low.

more on this later..

The Myth of the Captive Audience. - Part 1

2007-09-08T05:03:00.000-07:00

I'm at the ground floor of a suburban mall. To my left i see a large supermarket, well lit, bright and inviting. They're sporting a new look since my last visit. I am curious. I enter. What happens next is classic marketing folly... I am the "target" of 3 different media vying for my attention.

Just as i step in there are 3 loud noises -
a. In-store TV
b. In-store Radio
c. The Music System on display

They all got my attention. I noticed all three. They were quite effective. I walked away from 2 of them.. couldn't escape in-store radio though. It continued to make my shopping trip consistently unpleasant.

I could imagine these savvy marketers presenting graphs on the effectiveness of the medium through metrics like footfalls and impressions. I could imagine them selling this new medium as a "Captive Audience" to advertisers. Retail Media guys love this term.. You will see this term on their websites, their proposals, press releases, interviews. they will spew these words out without warning, on any unsuspecting media planner with such alarming frequency and discipline that would put trained monkey to shame.

Incidently, they are right. They do have a captive audience. But if i were a brand owner, I'm not so sure I'd like the word captive.

"Captive - Restrained by circumstances that prevent free choice: a captive audience; a captive market."

They do have a captive audience which cannot escape their medium even if they want to! Now now, you may be thinking why such bitterness against a fellow marketer? Why wake them up from their dream state when they've actually started believing in it themselves. Well..

The word is Captivating. Not Captive.

more on this soon..

Longer Lines, Shorter Waits

2007-08-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

Waiting at the check out line is perhaps one of the most dreaded experiences for shoppers.. it is the difference between an enjoyable shopping experience and a much despised chore. retailers lose millions on abandoned carts at the checkout(not to mention the entire life-time value of the customer if s/he switches to a competitor never to return). the others wait in queue, thoroughly bored, frustrated and helpless. it is as if they are being punished for shopping at the store.. what's worse is the wait seems longer than it is. retailers try various tricks (more on that later) to reduce perceived wait times but they hardly seem enough.

but one retailer in new york has figured it out.. instead of multiple lines at multiple registers Whole Foods, Columbia have a single line (yep!! there is no typo there.. 1 line for the entire supermarket) but with multiple registers. it means that a single queue of 50 will move faster than 5 queues of ten people each.. this particular queue of 50 people took less than 4mins to the register! no mobile scanners, no self check-outs. just stress-free shopping. (via NYTimes)

Zen of a product

2007-08-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you can tell how good a product is by the way it feels. It could be a software application or a toy. it doesn't really matter. it connects at a much higher level. Your instinct kicks in. at first you can tell if the design will work or not. after a few attempts you can tell what is it that works. you sort of get used to an affective way of analysis. it is much simpler and a non-derivative (hence not popular) approach.

Came across this interview by Jim Sachs who worked on the Macintosh Mouse. He calls it the Zen of a Product...

"But often what is lost in that kind of historical documentation of a product is the Zen of the product, because it's something you can't write down. You could write down that a switch should have a certain activating force, and a certain sound-- though a sound is hard to document without sampling it. Certainly it's almost impossible to document the feel of something. And so you describe it. And to this day, in 1999 and 2000, that's true. At SoftBook, we have a product that has a switch-- the page switch of an electronic book-- and when it comes to final approval, they actually give it to me, and I feel it and say if it has the right feeling or not. Because somehow or another, it's my brain, and my tactile senses that's calibrated to know what feels right"

the others...

2007-07-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

been reading a lot about the protests by local mandis, unorganized traders against big retail. they claim the big guys will force them out of business and steal their livelyhood. their argument seems fair and justified. but if u scratch below the surface you'd realize the ones who are complaining aren't local traders or kirana shop owners but agents and middle men who get squeezed out of the value chain as organized retailers step in.

in any value chain intermediaries between producers and end consumers are justified if there is a proportionate value add that makes the system more efficient. the idea of intermediaries in agriculture produce was the government way to create a unified market for farmers to sell their produce. one could lease space at one of the APMCs (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee)and set up local agencies where retailers could buy the merchandise at wholesale rates. they collectively controlled prices. most farmers were marginalized and had no choice but to accept the low rates. on the other end wholesale rates tend to be inflated and the consumer ends up paying a lot more. the fat margin goes to the middle man. (KSA Technopak has a fantastic analysis of the value chain) where there is money, there is power. as these traders grew in clout they started getting political affiliations. things became messy. farmers suffered. consumers paid more. the middlemen grew richer.

and now they're complaining. the big boys have entered their domain and realized they're not needed. so they protest. use political pressure and play the victim. its true that many will be directly affected and lose their lively hood. but it's also a correction waiting to happen. its just that they'll not give in so easily. the others will die slow death. but their death is certain.

"flop of the century"

2007-06-30T02:23:00.000-07:00

came across this very interesting viewpoint on the iPhone by Guruprasad on Venturewoods. He says it'll flop because convergence has been a bad bet. It's a good argument. But I disagree. here's the complete post

Here's my take on his post..

"great to finally come across someone who doesn’t sit on the fence. but i’d whole heartedly disagree with the analysis.

It’s true that many device manufacturers have flirted with the idea of convergence quite unsuccessfully. But it would be naive to believe that people don’t want a multi-functional device…

What people don’t want is compromise. They don’t want their scanner to be limited in functionality because its got a printer attached to it. Customers want it all. And when convergent devices fail to deliver the complete experience - they fail.

I believe the iPhone will be a success. And the reason is it takes more than one or two features to make a product work. If we cut through the hype and take an objective view of the product, the iPhone delivers all three functionalities of a phone, a web browser and the iPod in completion. There is also a big factor of execution - be it the User Interface, the buttons, the scratch resistant glass, the widgets, the battery life and the tiny details which are often left in the background by many companies which have been painfully tackled by Apple.

I believe most products/companies get the overall idea right but fail to execute these tiny, oft ignored aspects which ultimately decide whether the customer will genuinely love using your product or whether its just another smart box in a sexy shell that will fail to live up to the hype."

Video Umbrella

2007-06-29T21:27:00.001-07:00

Its pouring here.. and wish i had this umbrella. "Pileus is an umbrella connected to the Internet to make walking in rainy days fun.

Pileus has a large screen on the top surface, a built-in camera, a motion sensor, GPS, and a digital compass, and it provides two main functions; a social photo-sharing and a 3D map navigation." more from Adverlab

Retail Media Measurement by Percept OOH.

2007-06-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

A first of its kind retail media measurement tool (in India) to be developed by Percept OOH which according to Percept "...will help us in understanding the differences between a consumer, a shopper and a buyer in a more lucid and clear manner”

What we'd love to know is what are the various media included in the term "retail media"? Is it just shelf talkers, POP gondolas, In-store TV? Are we going to have different metrics for each of them or will it be a singular metric per store? Monitoring results (in terms of consumers /shoppers /buyers etc) for each brand, at every store, through various media is quite a audacious task and the data needs tested over time for it to validate the findings.

they're starting with a pilot project with a South India chain. we'll be awaiting the results. in the meanwhile here's the article.

TV is Dead.

2007-06-21T01:11:00.001-07:00

I love TV. But I hate the idea of not being able to watch a program of my choice. I miss out on F1 races and all my favorite programs because TV is an unintelligent device with a clumsy user interface and designed to suit the network's convenience and the viewer has absolutely no say in what s/he wants.

I search for content by brands (star plus, sony, zee) rather than by genres (comedy, sports, music). Plus I have to tune in to the network (rather than the network tune in to what I want) i.e. I can’t see what I want, when I want even if the network owns the content.

All in all it is a lousy product.

Fortunately it's set to change. And it has something to do with the way content is generated, distributed and paid for. What’s enabling the change is fat internet pipes and the proliferation of smarter smaller devices. More on that later…

Today the TV industry is controlled by distributors of content and it has very little to do with the viewer. Network owners purchase content from production houses and get paid for by the advertisers and subscribers/viewers. They look for content which gets them the maximum number of sticky eyeballs (read TRPs). The stickier the eyeballs, the more it costs a brand to interrupt the viewer (what a business model!). For over half a century marketers have used this model of interruption to create brands and ultimately to sell their products. The interruption model has gross inefficiencies built in. But you’d still hear marketers complain about ad avoidance and blame it on the strategy or creative or execution, but what they need to realize is they’re riding a dead horse.

To borrow from Gary Hamel’s book Leading the Revolution, “Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are on a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. Of course, there are other strategies. You can change riders. You can get a committee to study the dead horse. You can benchmark how other companies ride dead horses. You can declare it’s cheaper to feed a dead horse. You can harness several dead horses together. But after you’ve tried all these things you’re still going to have to dismount.”

If you talk to most planners, agencies and brand owners, they’re still tempted to stay on. Few have started experimenting with new media but it’s more buzz and less action. Of the Rs.60000-70000cr spent on advertising in India, OOH accounts for just about 1400cr. Given the fact the average consumer spends more time Out of Home than at home, the spends do not reflect this reality.

But what happens when disruptive ideas like Tivo or IPTV come into play? Well it changes the rules of the game. And the rules for once favor the viewer. The viewer is in control of the content. S/he can download programs, record live programming, stop, pause, rewind, recommend, give reviews and change our concept of TV as we know it. Pay per Download or Pay per View is reality. The user interface, the buttons on your remote, the way you browse, search and select content will be a whole new experience. Just like iTunes revolutionized the music industry by selling individual tracks rather than as a set of sixteen clubbed on a CD. With the user is in control, TV will no longer be an idiot box. Future generations will find it hard to believe that it used to be this way. As for us, the signs are there, and though we’ll have to wait a little longer, I guess the seeds have already been sown. TV is dead. Long live TV.