Millenials behaviour and opportunities

#Millenials consuming behaviour and #privatelabels push of online retailers, is seriously cooking up a #retail #storm!!

Few key symptoms -

1 Millenials demand #performance vs #logo - Its not about flaunting a logo that labels them as connesieurs, its more about understanding what they possess. Its like apple vs nexus or one plus. Explains the rise of such brands.

2 Millenials seem #practical in price value equation - Marketing and Brands is about profits, doesnt appeal to them, they are ok with private labels with quality output. They read #reviews to trust a new brand and easy return policy makes it work.  Shows growing emergence of private labels like amazon basics.

3 Millenials #search #google or app for literally everything - Thats a big one! Thus, white dress shirt search will land them to more often than not to private labels rather than the white shirt from ralph!

Imperatives??

#Brands need to create an unmatchable offering mostly thru fantastic quality at the right price. And engage in whys of #storytelling of how the brand aligns to thier #pragmatism. Curate personalized collections via #VisualMerchandising in a physical store. Plan #human-interaction to aid in story-telling and #feedback so that u appear as a brand that cares.

Elephants can Dance! - From Maruti to Haldirams

Elephants can Dance!!

Haldiram & Maruti on the front page of The Economic Times Times today for positive reasons.

With 'natural', 'authentic' and 'indigenous' elements creating a new trend and increased demand, #Haldiram toppling #Pepsi from No 1 snacks player by turnover is a sign testifying the wave.
From humble beginnings in Bikaner to chance expansions in other parts and later managing the entrepreneurial spirit thru 4 generations; Haldiram story has its share of ups and downs, as mentioned in a book - Bhujia Baron. But today's news makes a new cover page!

#Maruti, from a brand that ran its 800 model for more than two decades with incremental changes; today is a model churning behemoth.
From mass to class, the brand has brought numerous car brands with 'ferrarian' speed to make it premium and yet with volume. From Swift to Dzire to Ciaz to Baleno to Grand vitara, it has some 6 cars in top 10 passenger car market by volume.
From a brand around value (kitna deti hai?) to premium appeal (Nexa experience) it has hit home run everywhere. No wonder the stock is pricier than #Ferrari.

Indian #Elephants are starting to #Dance, a properly  choreographed one!! #MakeinIndia

#consumer #businesses #india

Movie Review - Dangal

There are movies which are made for pure entertainment, to be watched at one time to let go of your realities of life. And then there are movies which are made to inspire and motivate you to face those harsh realities of life. Dangal belongs to latter.

I am no particular khan fan. But Aamir yet again, at the end of year gives a chance to reconsider him, to fall in love or under awe with him. The sheer work ethic with which I am told that he pulled off the makeover of time travel in the movie. Aamir is one of the finest, be it pk, 3 idiots, ghajni, Laggan...and list is on.

Dangal is spectacular. Dangal is masterpiece. Dangal is a movie you live inside with. Dangal is a movie you take out with you in ur lives. Dangal is a concoction of real life heroism and smart dialogues and brilliant performances.

Aamir as an actor makes you feel his life as he prepares his girls to the time he is tested by her disciple only. You run thru what his character goes thru and feel his emotions all thru. And he does it by putting right Haryana accent to gem of dialogues. He says once in the movie - Dangal ladne se pehle,  dar se ladna padta hai!

Geeta kumari played by 2 girls - younger and older version as a character was the executor in the script, her father being the master. Fantastic performance by both girls, but I really fell in love with the small girl who spoke so fantastic haryanvi and shown the dare in her eyes as she prepared to fight against men.

Babita as a character,  is the side role and done justice again by the other two girls. She displays that fine nuance of understanding her father when relationship of her father with geeta goes awry. Her smaller version also gives those funny punches to the movie which are required to tone down the intensity.

A sidey,  the cousin of the sisters plays a vital role of fun and an effective narrator of the story.

Music is awesome and I wonder how primal pulls such kinds at times. I liked gilahriyan and obviously dangal title track. Written by amita Bhattacharya, it's an amazing song..I liked the lyrics after a long time..may be since chak de india track, in that genre.

And, without giving any spoilers, at the end of it you gather a lot of things from the movie, - a desire and motivation to win against all odds, great lesson as a parent on what all Mahabir did for her daughters and how future of kids is dependent on the parents,  and above all the passion and dedication that the trio showcases on screen to achieve the end goal of getting and international gold.

It's a must must watch for anybody who wants to live life! And it's a truly story. So much inspiring life!!

Remembering Nida saab

Saddened by the news of demise of Nida saab, given he was one of the lyricists whose ghazals voiced thru jagjit singh gave a new direction in my life.

Some of the soulful lines -

Apne marzi se kahan apne safar ke hum hain, Rukh hawaon ka jidhar ho udhar ke hum hain.

Duniya jise kehte hain, jadoo ka khilona hai; Mil jaye to mitti hai, kho jaye to sona hai…”

And many more...

However, the circle of fate is such, Nida saab left the world on 8 Feb, which is the birthday of jagjit singh as well. Strange! Even jagjit singh died on 10 Oct while Nida fazli's bday was on 12 Oct!!

Insight album is my favourite album of this respectable singer lyricist combo. Remembering the same today -

Munh ki baat sune har koi, dil ke dard ko jaane kaun,
Awaazo ke bazaaron mein, khamoshi pehchane kaun.

Degrees of doing -> degrees of results!

Most of us have heard so many times in our lives - in books or lectures, workplace from your bosses, as a straight dictat that don't just try...make things happen!

I agree to the fact that yes, it is about degrees of action from degrees of drive and passion generating that kind of varied result. And you must have heard yourself also giving this Gyan statement to your subordinates or colleagues as well.

Just, step back and imagine yourself to be the person who is stating varying degrees of doing to his or her superior on being assigned a task -

I will try.
That's a very weak desire coming out to do the task. You seems incapable, uninterested and not at all looking like a finisher with a self force.Thus as a boss, i might feel that surety of task happening is a question. Thus, I should keep pushing you/cross checking again and again, else the task is in jeopardy!

Result - Micromanagement leading to further arguments and checks. Whether the task happens to satisfaction or not, environment to happen is already killed. And you, look like a pessimist, uninterested and incapable person.

I will do my best.
That's better. You appear a positive person confident of his skills and willing to give your best to the task. As a superior, I feel confident, less concerned and believer in the fact that task would happen and with a good quality levels. I will check less frequently and let you do your thing.

Result - Periodic review of work in a better environment leading to quality output. Both parties feel confident and professional and positive.

I will do it whatever it takes.
You already have the feeling! This is making things happen. Going beyond your roles or task territories with a single minded focus, getting all people/resources to kick in at the right times for the grand output.

Result - You appear super charged, champion of the task with safe hands and shoulders to treat it as you baby. As a superior, I feel wow! I would review things to add value to the output, stretching the creativity and making everything gigantically great! This is where 2 humans really use their power to make things as masterpieces, giving a meaning to human lives!

Let's watch our words, and work for any task personal or professional with the highest degree of action - whatever it takes and see how happy we would be! And results of what kind - you would feel it on the way!!

Tamasha - a movie, from which u draw sth 4 ur own Life!

For ppl, who want to read this post to decide whether they should watch it or not - I will make it simpler here, it's a mix of fun and 'self think' movie. I loved it for the latter and hence it's a must watch from my side. If you are somebody, who likes a little bit of 'meaning drawablity' from those 2-3 hrs, then u are with me. Although there is good enough fun that also comes along.

PLOT
Now, I am not going to put spoilers here and say that plot is awesome and imtiaz has done a great job with all small details being looked at. He is a master storyteller in my books now after having seen highway, Rockstar in particular. It's not the kind of love that bollywood has been showcasing since last 50 yrs. The key idea which will hit u more than the movie - Ur life is ur story/dream/plan, u don't need approvals, appreciations from others to execute it. Somewhere down there, we start mimicking the world and lose our story where we are special, and rather than becoming a Rockstar we end up becoming a me too without a real identity.

ACT
Ranbir Kapoor is back with an award winning performance. Deepika within a small role does full justice and looks desirable.

MUSIC
Rahman does a decent job with matargashti being the most likable. However, somwhere I felt I hear sada haq in the matargashti song... Lukka chhuppi in agar tum saath ho song. That's probably because of his signature. Mohit chauhan hums lovable matargashti. And do notice amazing lyrics in this song!

FINAL TAKEAWAY
Given, everybody is in a rat race, you relate with the movie and want to become that ved who can detach himself from the race and creat his own happy ending!

Must watch. RESPECT. IMTIAZ ALI.

What u believe is what u become!

I came across this thought today...and i think have read it somewhere before also. To me seemed like a hyperbole of sorts...with impressive words sandwiched to create an awesome sentence.

However, I started thinking about it.

One-day long back in my life, I believed that I would want to be part of this exciting marketing and advertising world... Having no idea of first or third hand experience of it, being a son of an engineer turned businessman and having spent 18 odd years reading dainik bhaskars of the hinterland ( no exposure to business press).

But I think, the belief came from reading a few business magazines during CAT preparation. And I believed it..that I can.

Thoughts started zooming in on my mind..as to how exciting life would be around brands and consumer behaviour etc. Al rises and Jack trout rocked my engineering days with I reading more of marketing warfare,  positioning etc than integrated electronics!

And yes, thoughts became words..with me finding myself talking more about marketing with my engg friends than anything else.

And words became actions. Mini adverts of sorts were getting circulated by me in the class rather than focussing on telecom networks lecture. Though that was also transmitting a message in the class:-).

And, I think that belief developed a habit in me to read about this side of the world. Out of no where I was reading business press especially likes of business today with a focus on brand buzz. At infy, my focus was more on activities which lend me explore my passion and I realised I was part of the communications team making ads for hr events, participating in ad-mads and so on...which helped me ratify my belief....that the other world is calling me

And here I am today, working as a marketer for last 8 yrs. And I enjoy where I am vs a world of machines with ppl handling them to increase output, efficiency and creating newer inventions and more machines and programs. I love to think what to do with those machines to get happy consumers.

Believing is becoming. Indeed!

Law of 10000 hrs - from Sachin to Gates!

When I was small, my dad told me while making me do maths problems - " Practice makes a man perfect". I didn't bother that much and worked on problems multiple times and used to remember...however didn't find any profoundness in that statement.

Years later, I read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and got this concept of 10,000 hrs - if you spend 10,000 hours of practice on a skill, you become a master in that.

And for example, author quoted Bill Gates. Behind the fact that bill was able to build Microsoft so successfully, lies a veil of circumstances and his personal interest that made him do 10000 hrs of programming so earlier in his life.

He was staying near a university which had a mainframe computer, and had access to it in his school years. Out of his interest, he used to write a program and used to punch his cards in university. For kids his age, it was next to impossible that they were given access to a mainframe. Thus, his passion for programming + circumstances made him do 10000 hrs of programming and master it without anyone of his age  remotely can even wonder! That's the secret behind his success.

And today, when I think of this law, I draw multiple living examples.

Why Sachin Tendulkar was God of cricket? Technique, passion yes! But I think, somewhere I read that he used to play a lot in gully in his neighbourhood and because of narrow lane, only way you can score runs was straight. And that is why he did 10000 hrs of straight drive so early that he was way ahead of Kids his age. And yes, a great straight drive, does a great deal for your cricketing technique!

And yes, there are many more who grow up playing in lanes, but I think there comes the fact of passion and ignite to go single minded in a direction and make it happen.

Building a life myself with my kid,...all this makes a great sense!

Experiencing the deserts of india

Visited recently jaisalmer with family in chilling winters of delhi; and wow, the winters are pleasant contrary to the belief that deserts are chillier.

Sand dunes at sam in jaisalmer are amazing with camel safari on the dunes with my 4 yrs old. That too...the camel we rode was also 4 yrs old ;) some awesome sunset shots followed. Went to a desert camp for folk programmes, which my kid loved amidst bonfire.

Jaisalmer is also known as golden city as 80 % of houses are made of sandstone which is brown. Highlight of the city was patwa haveli which has some breath taking carvings well maintained along with collections of the trader of gold, silver and afeem.Boating at gadsisar lake was serene.

Food at wh mandir palace, trio and desert boys safari was good.

Photography paradise - haveli, mandir palace, jain temples, lake, and dunes.

Decoding Life with random perspectives

Dhund aisi gehri thi ki, Kitna bhi ujaala aaya, dhund hat hi nahin rahi thi aur mujhe sab dhundhla lag raha tha...bhagwan ko bhi bahut kosa Maine, ki Kyun?

Phir, dekha ki Mera chhashma shayad saaf nahin tha...aur saaf karte hi sab kuch theek dikhne laga mujhko...

To decode, I think we get so muddled in our lives thinking about circumstances and people that we keep missing the sunshine just what fog does...

But, at a lot many times you will realize that there is no fog, it's only your specs which aren't clean leading to poor picture of what is happening around you.

We should always remain positive and open to the world at large,  that we see the sunshine.