Google's new priority Inbox

As a part of my profile as Manager - Internet Banking at Deutsche Bank, India I undertook conceptualization of marketing campaigns to promote our online services with the customer base.

The crux of the activity lay behind understanding the psyche of the customer and ensure that he at least gets to see the mail sent in his inbox. There were some ways of bettering chances to promote the "mail open" ratio. For instance not to send mails on Friday evenings as the customer would probably not check his mails over the weekend and loose the mail. The ideal time to send out a mail would be in the afternoon so that by the evening when the customer becomes a little free from office, is at least inclined to open the mail.

One of the most effective tactics was to send the mail out late in the evening (like 1 am or 2 am ) so that the mail resides on the "top of his mail box" next day morning. The top of the mail box is real important piece of real estate as the customer would tend to start his work in the FIFO manner.

The smart guys at Google realized this neat trick and have now developed "Priority Inbox" which sorts mails based on relevance to the customer! Man..marketing guys need to evolve a step further now!

The Joneses - 2009

So you would think, what is a movie review doing in a blog about advertising..? Well thats the crux of this great film.

What is the value of a luxury product in your life if some one else does not crave for it ? Think about it....How did you come to taste about your first Cuban cigar or the horrendously expensive single malt or Blue Label. How did u hear about Florsheim and Patek Phillipe ? Are B&W speakers & McIntosh equipment your first choice of premium sound setups?

These are not your every day products like Tide and Colgate which you instantly gravitate to. They are more like whirlpools where the consumer gets sucked in because he circles round about a concept which he has observed in his colleague / neighbor / friend / classmate / buddy / boss and after "putting a lot of thought to it" decides that he needs to have them. I am guilty of the same...This is really the art of selling.

This film executes this concepts brilliantly. Yes, there is a fair amount of drama and emotions also thrown in but thats expected. Its been some time since I got this feeling inside me after I watched a movie. (The kind of feeling that I got after I saw requiem for a dream).

Photon -Smoking hot

I am amazed...Dont people approve creative designs any more ? I recently started using Photon Plus and I was amazed to see hidden suggestions in the Photon screen...
Is the Indian Tobacco Company a covert partner behind the blazing speeds ?

Blunder by Cadbury

There was this show on the telly - The Apprentice and a particular incident which happened on the show stuck to me. Donald Trump, the main host of the show fired the group leader in a particular project because the leader had carelessly printed incorrect contact numbers on Donald Trump's Sales Brochure. That was just a show but I am amazed a company like Cadbury's has pulled off something a stunner like that.

You guys must be aware about the premium chocolate brand - SILK which was launched recently by Cadburys, just before it was taken over by Kraft. Well, Cadbury products are generally great so I was naturally tempted to try it out. The packaging is actually most appealing and looks pretty even while sitting in a "kirana" shop. (I have a separate grouse about its packaging and you can read a little bit about it here http://bit.ly/9QcVJa on CrankyWriter's blog, but lets not digress!)

So, I buy this huge piece of chocolate and open it. Standard quality stuff and to my surprise I see a message on the white wrapper of the chocolate. It said something like - write to us at ilovesilk@cadbury.com about your experience with this product of ours. I was most impressed...Nice way to connect to customers, so I write to cadburys about my experience and guess what! The damn email id does not exist! I get a mail bounceback!!! Wow...! May be the managers at Cadbury's dont realize what kind of message they are sending to their customers when they pull off stunts like these ! They are saying - "We dont care about you guys as long as you keep buying our stuff".

I hope some one at their posh Cadbury House office on Peddar road, Mumbai has taken some heat for this and is scurrying to setup an email account...

Ad nuisance

Whenever I go watch a movie in Fun Cinemas (Andheri W), Fame Ad Labs (Andheri W) or Cinemax (Versova) I inevitably end up watching the ad of Axis Bank Priority Banking. I am sure a bunch of you guys have also seen this monstrosity. If I were not forced to view this ad innumerable times, I would'nt have cared much about it but since it has been force fed to me, I cannot help but list out the flaws in the execution :

1. The guy gets information from his relationship manager like a "khabari" doles out tips...Ouch!
2. To indicate foreign travel, they place cut outs of destinations. This reminds me of cheap photo booths, where you can get yourself pictured with famous people / in famous destinations.
3. Instead of talking new age banking methods - like net and phone banking, the guy relies on paper based stuff...Sad.
4. This one is my favourite: Take pain to notice the cheque on which the hero of the ad is signing away to glory...Look harder and you will see that the cheque says-SPECIMEN. Oh my God! They have used a dummy cheque in the advertisement and have not bothered to even airbrush it out......

To prove my last point, I tried looking for the advertisement on YouTube but no one has put up the ad yet...So next time you go to the theatre and you are force fed this ad lookout for the specimen copy!

Brand building through global events

India is witnessing a revolution of sorts with the explosion of cheap mobile devices, testament to the ongoing telecom boom. I think there are 7 new brands of mobile phones being launched. So in such a event how do you distinguish yourself. The straight forward answer is - Advertise and Advertise. Associate with a credible / major event in the hope that some credibility runs off on your brand too.

Which is why we see an amazing amount of money being poured into advertising by these companies in events like Award Ceremonies and Cricket matches. There is no doubt that over time some of these brands will sink (due to their service level commitments and low quality phones) while some will grow and consolidate.

The point I am trying to make here is that I used to look at the impact of the advertisement from a local consumer perspective, e.g. Indian event translating into Indian consumer. However the ongoing Australian open has helped me broaden my horizon...

I didn't know that KIA motors had a significant interest in the Australian market. To me KIA motors was basically a Korean phenomenon producing cheap cars. However its association with the Australian Open, really hit me hard and made me realize that it is slated to be a much bigger player on a global scene. So I think their advertising strategy really hit off well to a global audience and I am sure that they have made a significant dent in the perspectives of the local population in Australia as well.