Advertisements, human emotions and the deeper connect

What is the single most strategic element for a product's marketing? You guessed it right - it's advertising. While advertising per se has many manifestations, of late, it's the TV commercials and videos that has caught my attention - for an interesting reason. And yes, this post is about that very reason that triggered my curiosity on the subject. Want to know the reason? Read on!

For the sake of brevity, I'll focus only on the TV commercials (or TVC as they are usually referred to) and also some videos that we come across in the Internet. Traditionally, advertising has been mostly about the product itself. This is how an ad used to be (and mostly is) - a person or a group of people talking about the product, more specifically, they try to address a problem in their daily life using the product and how wonderfully it solves the problem at hand. Now, this is very valid case and I think it's usually the concept that comes to the person creating(for the lack of a better term) the advertisement. The purpose of the advertisement - advertising the product - is achieved and everyone's happy. Only that no 'connection' is made with the consumer in this case. It's more like a superficial campaigning that fails to make a deeper impression on the consumer. Until now.

More and more companies these days are trying to focus on that 'deeper impression' or the 'human connection' through their video commercials. In fact, the focus of these companies has somewhat shifted from the 'product' to the 'user' and from 'item' to 'brand'. This is a huge shift in the way content is produced and the way it's actually consumed by the consumer. There's an underlying message in each of such commercials - something deeper than their products per se  - and this 'something' is trying to make that 'deeper impression' in the minds of the people. Perhaps, companies now want to associate themselves and their brand with something more abstract, something more than just the products they create.

Let's take a simple and very familiar example to illustrate the point I'm trying to make here - Apple and Samsung. Again, this example is not meant as a direct comparison of the commercials of the two companies - they're totally right in their respective positions and contexts. While Samsung's commercials are focused more on the product it self, Apple's commercials focus on the 'user'. One of their commercials is about all the wonderful things people can do - and nothing else. Their product is just an enabler - at least that's what is the underlying message in their commercial. In fact, most of the ads from Apple are in that direction. What is it that Apple is trying to do here? They want to make a deeper connection with it's consumers, an impression at a 'sub-conscious' level that is more permanent than talking about any one product.

Our Indian companies are no exception - consider Airtel. I think they are one of the early adopters of such paradigm with their 'smartphone network', 'express yourself', 'one touch internet' campaigns. Again, it's not the product that's the hero here, it's the human emotions that take the center stage and Airtel is just an enabler. Same is the case with the latest TVC of Hyundai in which a father brings home his wife for his son - it's not the car that matters, it's the enabler.

What is in it from all this to us? I believe it's a very powerful indicator of the way human emotions can be tapped to make a lasting impression on a brand. Rest will follow. I guess my idea is clear to the budding entrepreneurs :-) 

For the curious, here're the links to the commercials I mentioned in the post:

Apple:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGtP6ZQ6Lt8

Airtel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw1P2hnJLdg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U55oYqhgT4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XseTNOFEE2A

Hyundai:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNJiBlc-JYA

Dove:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=litXW91UauE

Lifebuoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF7oU_YSbBQ

P&G:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkrAKpimxYQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57e4t-fhXDs

2012 - an year of change

It's that time of the year when I look back at the year that has passed and the experiences it has brought about in my life. Moreover it's been a while since I sat down to write some thing, so I think this is the best opportunity. Though this post does not serve to provide any interesting lessons per se, I believe we learn something from the experiences of others. With this note, I welcome you to the last post of the year.

2012 - what an year it has been for me! Now it might sound not so realistic when I say that I had a hunch about this year before it started. I had a feeling that this year would be an year of change in my life. In fact, I wanted a change in my life - professionally in particular. I had been fed up with the way things were going on in my professional life - not good work to start with. I felt I was losing control of my path and where I wanted to go. By the end of 2011, it became very clear to me that I had to change something - either my work or work place. I started taking baby steps in that direction and the fruits were to be borne only in the new year. Frustrated by the events, I even started looking outside for work. I went for an interview and a candidate there asked me where I was from. When I told my company, he asked "Why did you come from there?" That question sparked something in me - it made me think about my choice of changing the company. I started thinking and analyzing the reason for such decision. After some thinking, I realized that it was not the company per se, it was just my surroundings. So I applied for a change within my company. After a couple of months, I saw the first change in the year - change of my work area. Now it didn't entirely change the shape of the things, but I was hopeful. Of change. I did not know that life had some more plans for me in the store.

On the personal side, things were slowly taking shape. It was time when I felt ready for the next big thing in my life - marriage. And my consent kicked off the events at my home in full pace. Alliances started coming in. By almost mid year, I chose my partner for life - Swathi. It's a different feeling when you decide to get married - especially an arranged one. Both of us did not know much about each other. So we became friends, good friends, and now I can say that there's no better change in my life than her. We got engaged in August and this was the start of many more memorable events to come.

And life was not done yet! Never did I realize that there was much more change to come. On the professional side, after I changed my dept, I got a rare opportunity - to work on something very interesting. But as with all things in life, it did not come for free - it was a challenge in itself - something I had not taken ever since I graduated. Now when you are given such a good opportunity, there's a mix of emotions that occur in us - excitement, joy, anxiety and most of all - fear. I can say that I had all of them with fear factor being a bit more. But it was such a good opportunity that I would be really foolish to miss it. And so I decided - yes! I will do it! I had no idea of the challenges that lay ahead - I only knew that I had to do it - just to check my guts. But there was a twist here too - I had to change my dept again for the new assignment. Now this was getting way above my head!! So I did what I thought was best - accept it! So that was one more change.

The next one and a half month was sweating time at work. The good thing about this assignment is the freedom it gave me to adapt myself to work and give my best. You know, that 'aha!' moment in life. It happened to me when I was doing my internship and this time it's the same but with double the fun and thrill. The joy of learning something new in a very short span of time is really awesome! It just pushes you to your limits of cognitive activity - and I love it!!! And so after 45 days, we achieved a mile stone. And it was well rewarded :) None of this would have happened if it were not because of my coach (boss) - a very big thank you Peter :)

Am I done ? No, some thing more amazing was yet to come - my wedding. This is so far been the best experience in my life. Now I can write a whole blog post about the wedding per se, but for now, suffice it to say that it was an experience that I cannot describe in words. Life after wedding - it's a change in itself :) The joy of having someone in your life with whom you can be yourself - amazing! You feel that you just can't have enough of it :)

Well, now as the year ends, all I can think of is the wonderful journey I went through over the past 12 months - thank you God for blessing me with such a ride - it sure was absolute fun :) 

I hope your life also had a lot of stories in these 12 months. I would really love to hear them!!

Merry Christmas and Wish you all a very happy new year !

God Bless!! Cheers!!!

Toys are us

Does the title ring any bells?  Yes, it sounds similar to an American retail store exclusively for toys (http://www.toysrus.com). But this post is not about that store or its counter parts. Rather, it's about what they sell - toys :) Sound fun? read on!


Back when we were kids, I am sure, all of us would have had toys - big, small, noisy, stuffy, glowy, scary, cute, guess I lost you.. :)  There was an amazing sense of joy and happiness in being with them. Remember how we used to have them next to us in the bed? That fantastic feeling when your super hero saved the world from the wild and ferocious mammals and dinosaurs? Priceless! Or when your cute little Barbie was awarded the beauty pageant? A very proud moment indeed, right!! And long before you actually became an engineer and built stuff, your structural marvels won the best design award. Now that's definitely an achievement!!!


But then, as it should have been, growth happened. We all became old, studied hard, became the able sons and daughters ready to take on the world with skills and talent. Priorities changed and soon, our super heroes and best friends reached the corners of the shelves, waiting to be called for and cuddled. Watches, wallets, perfumes and yeah the jewellery de-throwned our little heroes and princesses, leaving them to dust. 'We need to grow up', you might say, but I don't think the kid in us should. Why, you ask?


There's a book that I read some time ago, 'The Present' by Spencer Johnson in which he asks as to remind ourselves of our childhood, the days when we were the best, the amount of confidence we had, the fearlessness in order to rejuvenate ourselves with energy. I believe it's certainly true of all of us, a lot of problems can be overcome that way. Now I am not saying we should be childish in our daily lives, but a little bit of kiddish ideas do help :)


Curiosity. The one factor which has enabled the humans to achieve so much - technological advancements, human well being, revolutionary inventions and innovations. The seeds of which were sown early in our childhood. The eternal curiosity that kept us awake till late nights tinkering with that new toy gifted by dad figuring out how it works :) As we have grown, I personally feel many of us have lost that streak of curiosity that is one of the foundations of joy and excitement. A lot of times, we take things for granted which if avoided by curiosity can keep us on the edge of excitement. After all, there's so much this world has to offer us, right!


Long ago when I was a kid, there was an ad by Nokia which featured adults engrossed in playing games in their mobile phones. It even featured Mr. Bill Clinton (if I remember correctly) sitting at a lake side his trousers rolled up, playing a game on his Nokia mobile like a child. At the end of the ad, there was a statement "There's a child in everyone of us eager to play. That's why we've put them in our phones too". Now though it's a marketing trick by Nokia, what they did mention in their quote is true. There definitely is a child in everyone of us, waiting to come out and play!


Let's be curious again, let's become a child again :)

tuesdays with Morrie

It's not often that you come across a book that touches you to the very core of your self. The one book which forces you to think and act upon later. I am really glad to say that today, after a long time, I read one such book - 'tuesdays with Morrie' by Mitch Albom. The first such book was 'The Monk who sold his Ferrari' by Robin Sharma. This post is not a comprehensive review of that book per se, but I wanted to share my thoughts on it and some other things too.


To start off, this book is the dialog between a teacher and a student. What's so special or interesting about this dialog is its timing. It happens during the last days in the life of the teacher. This might remind us of similar works by Randy Pausch and may be even Steve Jobs. But what is truly captivating about this book is the point of focus, the central theme around which the whole dialog proceeds. Given the timing of the dialog, as you might have guessed it, this whole dialog revolves around the concept of death. Sounds dramatic, right? 


If you have heard of the Stanford Commencement speech by Steve Jobs in 2005, Steve Jobs talks about death as one of his stories. He also mentions all his realizations related to death as a result of his close encounter with it. Now imagine the realizations of a person who knows he is going to die in a few months. This book talks about all such little nuggets of wisdom in very simple and elegant words. If you are wondering about the topics he chose to talk about, don't push yourself much, they are the most fundamental concepts we all struggle to find answers to - regrets, money, forgiveness, love, family, emotions, etc.


As you read the book further, a kind of feeling starts slowly in your mind which basically says 'hey, I've come across this stuff before in our scriptures'. Yes, interestingly, all of the points of wisdom which Morrie talks in the book are present in our scriptures, vedas, upanishads etc. and I myself have heard/read about them a lot of times. The point is, the words in this book, for some reason went deep into me than anything else earlier. Eventually, I got this question - why is the wisdom in our books not so simple? If the whole point of having wisdom is to enlighten others and help them make their lives better, why not present it in a simple way?A lot of texts on spirituality and wisdom that I have come across are either too abstract or too complicated. May be I have not come across a correct book yet, or may be I am being too judgmental. If someone has some books in mind, please let me know, I'll be really thankful to you.


Speaking of thanks, I express my heartfelt thanks to my friend Ramya for pointing me to this book.


Good day and happy reading!


Some more sources of such wisdom:
Tiny Buddha
Zen Habits

Never too late

It's already Jan 15th, half way into the first month of a new year, and I have still not told myself the story of the last year. Yes, for some unknown reason, I have gotten into this habit of blogging about the past year on new years eve. This time it was different. I did not blog about the last year. Or, let's say I couldn't. Not that the thought did not pass by mind; but I was caught up in some other thoughts, about the future, stemmed from some things in the last year. There were things that I had to change, and I was trying to figure out how.


Thinking about the last year, 2011, has nothing particularly interesting per se, but it gave me experiences which were exciting and not so. All I remember now are just a few glimpses. Time really flies by, doesn't it?


As every new year, 2011 did bring with it new avenues for growth and development. On a professional front, I worked on something which went into a product which people would use, which would make their lives better. No, this is not something from a Philips ad saying to make lives better. I've always wanted to work on things which would impact people's lives directly, and I could live up to my beliefs this time. It was an extremely interesting period; I learned a lot about work and the professional world. The smile and pride I saw in my father's eyes the day I showed my work is something that I would never forget. And I met some really nice people I would be friends with for a really long time. I had my first international trip, and am really thankful to my team lead for giving me this opportunity.


On a personal front, some things did not work out as expected, and I felt really bad for that. Hope things get better.


So, what am I expecting this year? Call it gut feel or hunch, I believe this year's going to bring some change in my life. Or, may be I should work for that. Oh yeah, my new year resolution: "accept life as it comes, just be ready".

Why we should read a lot

Thinking about reading books?

When I asked this question to myself, I paused for a moment and thought about reading itself and realized that there is lot more to reading than just books. This post is an attempt to understand this 'reading' a bit further and thus learn how we can benefit from it in our daily lives. Shall we?

The first thing that comes to our mind when we think about reading is books followed by news papers, magazines and so on. But what we forget often is that we read a lot more than just books or news papers. We read incidents, experiences, people and their behavior, environment and a lot more. It is interesting to note that we actually derive a lot of knowledge through these instruments of information. Of course reading here means not just reading some text, but understanding and interpreting them. I hope you get what I am trying to say here.

So now that we have a broader understanding of reading itself, let us see why we should read a lot more than we normally do. Don't worry, I will not ask you to become a full time researcher :-)

One of the main benefits of reading a lot is a better comprehension. To understand this, it is necessary to understand how we understand things in our daily life. Usually we learn a lot of new things by relating them to the things which we already understand. This means that every new learning about a subject actually corresponds to an understanding of it in relation to something which we already understand plus a little extra which we do not know yet. This can be called as incremental learning. It actually helps us a lot to make sense of a lot of new things which we encounter in our daily lives. We might not realize this, but this is what we do most of the times. Don't believe me? Try looking into how you understand some thing new this time. This is not to say that we learn 'all' of the things in a similar way. We do learn some 'ground truths' which form the base for all our further learning. One good example in our daily life is how we learn to use new gadgets. Once we use a phone or a software, we get a broad understanding of its behavior and the next time we have to use a new phone or software, we realize that we already know a little bit to get started. Make sense?

So how does reading more help us in this regard? Well, by reading more on varied subjects we increase our overall perception of things and our mind tries to form relationships which might not be very obvious. This helps in reducing the amount of that 'extra' information that I mentioned in the earlier paragraph we need to know to understand some thing. This in turn means that we can now make sense of things in a more easy way. The example I mentioned in the earlier paragraph can be used here also to understand better. So what I am trying to say here is that we need to consciously read things beyond just casual encounters with them to understand the new ones better.

I will end this post by talking about one more area of benefit - problem solving. In our daily life we do a lot of problem solving without even realizing it. A lot of the times, we hear people suggesting how to solve problems. Some of them say that we need to look at them from a different perspective. I feel that most of the times we are stuck with our existing knowledge. It is at this time that a diverse knowledge helps us. By reading a lot more on varied and diverse subjects and environments, our perception is increased a diverse way. It is with this knowledge that we can try to solve the problems in an innovative way. Steve Jobs once mentioned that we need to have a lot of varied and diversified experiences in our lives to come up with innovative ideas. I believe he meant that we need to have a diversified knowledge and not to get stuck in the silos.

So are we reading enough? :-)

iPhone and the hype factor

Over the past few months, any person who is remotely in touch with the tech news has definitely heard or seen something about the next iPhone. Yeah, I myself am super excited about it. Or am I really? This is a thought lurking around in my mind for some time now. So as usual, I thought it over, and here are some of my reasons.


I love reading news about new technology, and I'm sure there's nothing more circulating than the news about the new iPhone. Yeah, as the day approaches, at least one article pops up in the media. Guesses, guesses and guesses. iPhone5, iPhone4s, iPhone4G and so on. This sort of hype is definitely good and keeps the readers interested - for a while. And then it gets irritating. To the point that you don't care about them anymore. So why, especially in the case of iPhone[5/4S/4G] is this hype less interesting? Well I believe its because of the following reasons.


First of all, what makes a product super cool? Hardware along with the software, right? In the current case of next gen iPhone, the software to be bundled has already been announced. So half the suspense is uncovered. Or, in my opinion, most of the suspense. Why? Because in today's ever changing market of hardware, its the software that comes along that creates the 'wow' factor. Not clear? Lets see. According to the stories, the next iPhone would probably feature better processor, better camera, bigger screen, thinner form factor, etc. all of which are currently available in the market. So yeah, frankly, there's nothing new. But yeah, again, its the software in synergy with the hardware that creates wonders. Now this, in my opinion, is what Apple holds for its users in the next release of their iPhone. So there are just a few pieces left to finish the amazing Apple puzzle for the next phone.


Now, may be I'm a little over thinking, but hey its Apple - they can come up with something radically different, and I'm definitely looking forward for the event.