Desicritics Author: Shalini Bahadur

What is in a Name?

Shalini Bahadur — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 09:24:19 EDT

When we moved to Bombay, we found it quite odd how everyone wants to know not only the locality you live in, but also the name of the apartment complex. Its something that we've not seen anywhere else, not in Kansas City, not it Providence, not in Bangalore and not in Delhi either. Housing complex/society names are a big deal here. Most names are cringe-worthy and corny as hell.

There seems to a definite tilt towards girls names...with names like Akanksha, Pratibha, Shirin (manzil, mansion, apts), Suman, Manju...

Then there's the guys names like Vinit, Abhinav, Gautam, Sudesh...

Then come the double-name ones like Ashish Manish, Jeevan Anand, Mahavir Vaibhav, Om Rajan...

There have to be the religious ones too like Sai Kripa, Sai Trishul, Guru Krupa...

There are ones named after other places like Patliputra, Nalanda, Allahabad, Takshila...

There are the ones with a 'View' like Garden View, Ocean View, Park View, Sea View...

Not to forget the ones tagged onto 'Sea' like Sea Legend, Sea Wood, Sea Green, Sea Glimpse (there have to be some really gullible people living here), Sea Lord...

There also plenty with nature inspired names like Primrose, Orchid, Garden Rose...

There are the over the top grand names like Royal Accord, Gold Coin (where we saw and almost rented an apt), Kamal Diamond...

And of course the ones taken from foreign lands like Highland Park (in Lokhandwala, from where I used to catch the A2 when the main market road was being constructed), Green Park (Delhi has a Green Park, and well, its almost like a foreign country to Mumbaikars), Sheffield Towers, Sunny Side (like the cottage in Kasauli that Henry Lawrence built), Woodstock, Oak Land Park (inspired by Oakland, CA, maybe?), Beverly Park...

There are the off the wall names like Magic Carpet, Good Gift, Ben Hur (why, why?)...

Only in Bombay. Definitely only in Bombay.

Of There and Here: Customer Service Fallout in India

Shalini Bahadur — Fri, 1 Sep 2006 09:54:48 EDT

Retailing is booming in India and it seems that just about everyone is getting into it whether they have any knowledge of the sector or not. Food and restaurant retailing especially is where the maximum enthusiasm is, as this is the area where Indians who are not familiar with the concept of modern retail formats take their first steps into the world of organized retailing. While I am all for international concepts coming to India, I have time and again been disappointed with the way the system has been set up in India.

Across the world, service is the number one priority, but here in India, while all retailers say that service tops their list, for most retailers it's actually not the case. US retailers especially go all out to make customers feel happy and satisfied. As a manager at Kmart, I knew this was my top priority too and made sure no one ever left my store unhappy.

In the restaurant sector, anyone who has visited the US knows how generous the servings are there, a bit too generous most of the time actually. They are known for their large heartedness and giving spirit, especially when someone is a paying customer. Fast food chains like McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Subway and Baskin Robbins personify this generosity. A sandwich at Subway in the US really a filling meal, unlike the sandwiches here in their restaurants in India.

In the past weeks, I have had two run-in's with retailers, both international restaurant chains. At Subway, I ordered a 6" sub with bacon add on and when he handed it to me the bacon was raw, yes it was raw! The worker there refused to believe it was raw, even though I had seen him take it out raw and place it in the microwave for only 30 seconds. The slice of ham was wafer thin and pretty much non-existent. The lettuce and tomatoes limp and soggy, the olives and jalape�o's counted out with precision, not more than three each. It was absolutely pathetic and entirely the opposite for what Subway stands for and how they make their sandwiches.

My other bad experience was at Baskin Robbins where we've been going on the 31st of the month to get a 31% discount. Now, we've gone for this special promo several times before, and in fact it was told to us by a Baskin Robbins employee. This time we were told that to get the discount, we need to have a minimum order of Rs. 310, and this too after he had fixed our orders. The manner in which it was said and the timing when it was said, would have shocked the Baskin Robbins people if they were to ever find out. Needless to say, we walked down the road to check out the new Mama Mia gelato and were very happy with both the service and product.

Incidents like these are becoming very common in India, and since most people don't know any better, they accept whatever is meted out to them. I for one, refuse to eat at any establishment that makes a mockery of its founding values and treats its customers like nobodies. International companies coming to India need to lay more emphasis on training their employees not only on the values the company stands for and its products but also on how to build customer loyalty. The sad truth is that since most international restaurants come to India via franchisee agreements, the brand and intrinsic values that the company stands for becomes muddy and eventually dissipates.

Are Blogs the new White Papers?

Shalini Bahadur — Fri, 7 Apr 2006 01:44:15 EDT

Blogs are bringing about changes in the way we live, the way we buy, the way we interact; giving a chance to speak and be heard to millions who would not otherwise bother giving their opinion in mainstream media. The highly interactive medium of blogs has altered the way information is spread.

The audience for blogs and white papers is similar, although bloggers spend more time online, are younger, more tech savvy, educated, earning high incomes and having broadband connections.

When Bob Bly asked marketers their preference for Blogs Vs Whitepapers in August 2005, the response was markedly tilted towards whitepapers for their technical depth and insight. Whitepapers are effective in increasing ROI's as they deal with the technical details of a product. While blogs might offer a wider audience, they will likely not connect to the target audience, so it's a wasted effort.

The trick is to use both blogs and whitepapers in conjunction, each one playing off the others strengths. Blogs are a great way to create buzz in the media and invite comments and discussions and direct traffic to whitepapers. Blogs also provide a format for connecting to people and answering frequently asked questions from the whitepaper.

Blogs are sprouting everywhere it seems. It is estimated that over 12 million Americans have their own blogs. The total number of blogs in the US doubles every five months with 700,000 being created every single day, of which 76,000 shut down due to lack of traffic.

At the recent Chicago DM Days & Expo '06 organized by the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing, Dana VanDen Heuvel, director of RSS and Blog advertising at Pheedo explained,

"RSS is the new e-mail, blogs are the new whitepapers and podcasting is the new webinar". "[Anywhere] from 10-30% of Internet users are using blogs". Forrester Research's estimate of 10% is the most conservative, EMarketer thinks it's 14%, Pew 25%, Princeton Survey 27% and comScore Networks 30%.

Blogs are making a significant dent as consumers are becoming highly skeptical to mainstream advertising and are increasingly resisting advertising to gain control of decisions. Media sources are also becoming fragmented and targeting the right customer is becoming crucial. The underlying force is that consumers are demanding higher accountability.

The easy access to blogs sites is changing the cultural and social thread of society and influencing us day in and day out. The Washington Post report on the new comScore Media Metrix study shows the number of people posting or reading blogs on blogger.com has increased by 528% from Feb 2005 to Feb 2006. At the present, very few IT professionals read blogs when looking for technical information, less than 10% according to MarketingSherpa as compared to 45% downloading whitepapers. As blogging becomes more commonplace, its influence will extend to technical writing.

The key factor that will control and influence the growth of blogs in the field of technical knowledge is credibility. While whitepapers are established sources of trustworthy information, the instant publishing factor of blogs is easily exploited. Blogs will not be able to compete with whitepapers until there is an established practice of checking facts and sources. As blogs become more accepted and read beyond the niche segment, readers will insist on greater personal responsibility as well as liability. Essentially, it will be a case of the survival of the fittest.

The Indian Food Processing Industry: The Next Growth Sector

Shalini Bahadur — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 08:19:21 EST

The food processing industry is badly in need of infrastructure and the government is offering several incentives and tax breaks for foreign investment. Currently, 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) is permitted in the food processing sector and the Union Government is likely to allow 51% FDI in food retailing, covering the sectors of dairy, marine, poultry, fruits and vegetables by end 2006, it is estimated.

According to the McKinsey FAIDA report, India produces 146 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables, second only to China. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) estimates that the food processing industry, which is currently worth USD 325.4 billion, is likely to grow at 8% per year till 2007 and 10% per year by 2010. It is estimated that USD 108.4 billion was annually lost to wastage due to outdated technology, gaps in the distribution chain and widespread use of commission agents.

Only 6% of fruit and vegetable production in India is currently processed while the target is 20%. To increase the country's share in the global market to 3% from its current 1%, the government is opening the industry to international companies to improve infrastructure, cold storages, packing and transportation.

It was due to this lack of an efficient supply chain as well as a continuous cold chain that India's first international food retailer, Nanz which was backed by Delhi-based Escorts Group, US-based Marsh Supermarket and Nanz AG from Germany went out of business.

An empowered group of ministers have already given the go-ahead to the proposal of FDI in food retailing. This move will allow foreign investment in food retailing, grant infrastructure status to the food processing industry, access to priority sector lending and reform taxation laws.

The main push behind opening up the agri-business sector is to reduce wastage, which amounts Rs. 50,000 crores annually. Minister for Food Processing Subodh Kant Sahai said that the food-processing and agri-business industries should get an "infrastructure category" status that has been given to airports, to attract investment to set up cold chains and other supply chain components.

On a related note, there's a great article, This brigade will charge India into glory! in The Indian Express by Vivek Bharati, an advisor to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), about how the food processing industry can bring about changes in rural India the same way that IT has changed urban India.

India has potential to grow most crops and become the food bowl of the world. Aggressive forays into the global market through export of processed food, organic food and fresh produce can unleash linkages that can redefine India's countryside by ushering in a second green revolution.

Subliminal Branding - Mind Your Manners

Shalini Bahadur — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 14:45:37 EST

Several advertisements lately are pushing social responsibility more than sales.

Is it financially feasible for these companies to ask users to reduce usage of their products or just a slight aberration in their advertising game plan?

Are companies using these prominently displayed advertisements on billboards merely as a way to increase their brand recognition or do they want results that are directly proportionate to their spending?

In the modern world, advertising has also become a mode of communication rather than just a sales medium. The most effective way to communicate with consumers, present and potential, is to connect with them while not necessarily pushing their products.

This indirect rapport with the consumers is the essence of successful advertising.

These new advertisements for Hutch and DNA are prominently displayed on billboards across Bombay.

Hutch is telling us to behave responsibly and politely and to not to take pictures without first taking permission and also to switch off our phones in movie theatres. They have a series of ads like: Hum Aapke Hain Tring Tring and Ali Baba and Tring Tring. The ads are innovative and sure to make an impact.

DNA (the new Mumbai newspaper - Daily News and Analysis) states: "There's no difference between our rich and poor. They both spit generously on the roads." Superb. Simply Suberb