Cricket break in between commercials

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2008/05/15/stories/2008051550020200.htm

Brands need to continually reinvent themselves as they grow older but it does not stop with merely changing the identity and creating new commercials to announce it. Does it demonstrate a new focus to the customer, better customer service or more contemporary products?

Cricket has audiences who are glued onto the TV set for hours on end, starting with the pre-match build-up, the toss, the pitch report, the highlights at the end of each innings, the presentation ceremony, the concluding remarks and whatever else follows it. On one single match day, a consumer could end up seeing the same commercial 10 times.

It is 8:45 pm on Tuesday –May 6 – and yet another IPL match is being telecast. I watch religiously despite the mediocre fare being provided by the depleted Chennai kings who clearly miss the likes of Mathew Hayden (who has recently been a t his diplomatic best) and Mike Hussey (who continues to be Mr Cricket).

One more wicket falls as the home team struggles. As I wait for the replay, a commercial comes on air for the nth time.

The IPL has been a succession of TV commercials, several of ordinary quality, like some of the players on display, interspersed with some cricket, some of it lacklustre.

Even as I contemplate switching the channel, the phone rings. It is my friend who calls to tell me that a wicket has fallen in the Royal Challengers camp too as the CEO has just quit. The CEO later reiterates that he has been “summarily dismissed”!

What with the cheerleaders having to tone down their act and actually being made to wear some clothes, Harbhajan’s hand straying onto his India team mate’s cheek, the ‘excellent’ relations between Warne and Ganguly… the IPL has had its fair share of excitement. My regret, though, is that the advertising that has been the foundation for the entire economics of funding the IPL – barring a few exceptions – has been quite boring, at least for diehard viewers like me.

Opportunity to see. But what is there to see?
Media planners swear by OTS or ‘Opportunity to see’. They want consumers like you and me to see the commercials a few times at least, during the purchase cycle. But how many times can one see the same boring commercial which precedes, interrupts and follows a game, which also happens to be dull and one-sided on occasion?

So, here is my question to agency creative and strategic types: What is your view on ‘wear-out’ of TV commercials?

Cricket has audiences who are glued onto the TV set for hours on end, starting with the pre-match build-up, the toss, the pitch report, the highlights at the end of each innings, the presentation ceremony, the concluding remarks and whatever else follows it. On one single match day, a consumer could end up seeing the same commercial 10 times.

Clearly, some of us do not learn or are gluttons for punishment. I read somewhere that the IPL could well be the ‘Superbowl’ of India. Superbowl is a big event in the US, as most of us know, where several brands launch new, edgy commercials at a phenomenal cost. One recalls the impact made by the ‘1984’ commercial previewed by Apple when I was young and actually had hair on my head!

This tradition of launching commercials in the event continues. While the IPL may present a great opportunity for Indian advertisers to showcase their creative talent, one wonders if they have risen to the challenge or even understood the mindset of the viewer of 20-20 cricket.

My submission to advertisers, agencies and marketers is to watch both games on the weekend at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., particularly the commercials, without switching the channel once and see their own commercials several times over to empathise with the viewer. They will quickly realise that their execution does not measure up to the challenges of repeated opportunities to see on the same day on the same channel.

Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the commercials that have been on air, not necessarily in any order.

Change for the sake of change
It is that time of year when companies seem to be dissatisfied with the way their brands look. Everybody wants to look younger, more with it, and in tune with what a younger audience wants. After all, we are a young country and even if we forget it for a moment, the agencies who have been behind these identity changes will quickly remind us! Ceat, one of the well-known if not iconic brands of my time, has suddenly woken up to the fact that younger customers do not even know it exists.

Marketing as we all know seems to be full of companies who ignore the importance of investing in their brands in a sustained manner! So, out goes the rhino, out goes the ‘born tough’ (a clear position if there was one) and in comes a new colourful logo which is announced with a lot of fanfare.

A lot of the communication on TV is about change itself and how it is inevitable and necessary. There was a level of intrigue in the first commercial where a middle-aged man tries to take a picture of a young girl in a bikini (when will middle-aged men improve!) while a young man wearing a t-shirt with the caption ‘change’ is blocking the view. The other commercials, in my opinion, lack the same level of interest and intrigue.

Godrej, another ‘old’ brand, has reinvented itself in design and Shoppers Stop too has a new identity.

All these campaigns feature heavily on the IPL, some as ‘creepy crawlers’ below and on the side of the screen, which, instead of reminding, actually end up repelling me.

Rejuvenation is an important part of branding and brands need to constantly monitor themselves, keep measuring how consumers feel about them and look for ways to engage the customer.

But identity, however visible, is just one aspect of the brand. Brands need to continually reinvent themselves as they grow older but that does not stop with merely changing the identity and creating new commercials to announce it. Does it demonstrate a new focus to the customer, better customer service or more contemporary products?

My concern about all these identity changes is that there is a predictable pattern to it. The logo is changed, often without continuing any aspect of its past; it becomes a lot more vibrant and colourful; there is a high-profile ad campaign that touts the change and then life goes on. What has changed for the brand or the consumer?

Hawaai at your feet
When we were kids (there I go again!) we used to wear a brand of rubber chappals called Hawaii made by Bata. Every second person used to wear it. In fact, I later discovered that Hawaii had become a generic name and several other manufacturers sold their brands as Hawaii to unsuspecting and uniformed customers.

Paragon, a company that makes rubber chappals has a new commercial featuring actor Shriya (Rajnikant’s lady love in the film Shivaji) who is dancing in the streets with a group of people, one of whom is a lady with a broom! Another celebrity commercial without a script or an idea … quite like a formula film that cannot find the right formula.

In defence of the commercial, I must tell you that my 17-year-old nephew, who is visiting from Malaysia, wanted to buy the chappals because he likes Shriya … So there you go.

The agency might well say “you are not the target audience!” But I am the target audience for the commercials done by Citibank. Clearly, the bank seems to be stressed out because of all this sub-prime crisis and I do recall one commercial with a girl jogging, talking to the camera and I could not for the life of me figure out what she was saying. Citibank has a series of commercials which are not too different.

From banks, we move on to insurance and another commercial for Max NewYork Life which has a harried housewife whom we later discover is paranoid.

But I am getting ahead of myself. A lady enters an empty house and searches high and low for her husband. He is not answering his phone, his shoes are strewn carelessly on the floor and he is nowhere to be found. The tension increases for the lady as she rushes from pillar to post calling out to her husband and her panic increases. She finally finds him slumped in his chair and rushes to him, only to wake up the poor sleeping man who probably was having one of his few moments of peace undisturbed by his wife…

Yes, insurance is a difficult subject and fear is not an easy emotion to handle, but after all this build-up, staccato images, black and white treatment, all adding the tension, it’s a letdown as the film ends almost comically. As my nephew says, “God! She almost gave him a stroke waking him up like that!” Yes, advertising works differently for different folks I guess.

Love me, love my dog
Advertising uses the unnatural liking we have for children and dogs. I love dogs and children (especially when they are not my own) and I just love the Vodafone commercial which has a cute girl with curls and our pug which has now acquired celebrity status. The brand which used to talk about coverage is now talking about service and helping consumers.

The commercials are charming, to put it mildly, and restore my faith in the power of advertising to charm and sell. Being an Airtel consumer, I am unable to talk about their service. But being an avid television watcher, I can tell you that I do not mind ‘opportunities to see’ commercials like these.

Another interesting commercial is for the Moto Yuva where a middle-aged father apes his teenage son while his family watches in amusement. While I have discussed a few commercials that were sad, weird even, there is nothing to beat the Animal Welfare Board which claims that the dog has been mistreated and the ad should be pulled off air!

So, here’s hoping that we get better cricket breaks!

(Ramanujam Sridhar is CEO,brand-comm, and the author of One Land, One Billion Minds.)

Would Richard Branson have done the same thing?

Sir Richard Branson is a one man PR army. He has built images, brands and businesses in a manner that few, if any, have done using public relations as a strategic differentiator. He has been lowered via a crane in his birthday suit for the launch of his mobile services in New York, dressed himself as a bride to promote bridal wear, danced the bhangra at Heathrow airport when Virgin launched its flight into India, went around Connaught place on top of an auto and went in a second class compartment with the dabba wallahs of Mumbai. The list of photo opportunities that he found with such regular ease goes on. Sir Richard Branson, although frequently found in the company of models and long legged beauties, knew the difference between being on Page3 and Page1 of the newspapers. He had amazing self assurance and could think on his feet. When once asked at a press conference on how one could be a millionaire, he said, “You start out as a billionaire and then run an airline!” to howls of laughter from the media. Vijay Mallya has lots of similarities with Sir Richard Branson. He could have even modeled himself on the maverick business man for all we know. But that is pure conjecture. What is not conjecture however is the fact that he is in your face in the media and is a successful businessman recognized globally with a range of diverse brands that he markets internationally. His latest venture is as the franchisee owner of the Royal Challengers team in IPL and sadly for him this venture has caused him a lot of embarrassment and heartburn, in that order of importance.

A team in disarray
20-20 cricket is perhaps a lot more unpredictable than regular cricket which already has a reputation for unpredictability. However there has been nothing unpredictable about the performance of the Royal Challengers’ team that has lost 7 out of the 9 games that it has played so far and is predictably at the bottom of the table if not at the bottom of the popularity charts. Gifted as we are with enormous hindsight, it is obvious to see that the team management, whoever it may be, has done many things wrong or could have done things differently. It is perhaps a problem with Bangalore in that it has two senior players Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble who have never played this format before, and in fact are not even regulars in the one day version of the game. Rahul Dravid, instead of finding people with diverse skills who would complement his own solidity has found players with similar styles like Wasim Jaffer and Jacques Kallis. Yes, the critics have labeled it as a test team in surrogate uniform. The successful teams have entertaining and match-winning Australians like the Hussey brothers, Gilchrist, Symonds, Hayden, Watson, Warne, McGrath, and Shaun Marsh… the list goes on. The Bangalore team has only Cameron White who is not even a regular in Australian one day team and yet he commanded a price higher than all of them (with the exception of Symonds) and not surprisingly is not a regular in the Royal Challengers team. I suppose the management of the team does not have the same respect for Australian cricketers as the rest of the cricketing world. As a person who lives in Bangalore I am terribly disappointed with the team’s performance, but have not watched it live as the team does not have a single cricketer who can set the stadium alight, with perhaps the exception of Dale Steyn who is constrained by his being a bowler who can only bowl four overs in a match.

Vijay Mallya loses it
As defeats happened with depressing regularity Vijay Mallya lost his cool. His ego was hurt, which was understandable. But his reaction was irrational and poorly handled and difficult to understand from a public relations point of view. His sacking of the CEO was poorly done and created bad press, and Charu Sharma continues to talk to the media. Instead of talking to Rahul Dravid about the team’s performance he continues to talk to the media about how he was unhappy with the team selection and how he had a different list of players whom he wished to select. Is this his way of getting the people he does not like out of the team, Rahul Dravid included? But surely there has to be a better, calmer way of handling this crisis. If only Vijay Mallya looked at this as a business loss he would have taken in its stride. But his ego has been hurt and he has reacted poorly, irrationally even, and shown himself in an unfavourable light to some of his admirers.I for one am a great admirer of his airline and am a frequent flier on it. Mr. Mallya is a successful businessman with a track record that many lesser lights would envy. But his childish handling of this situation is something that we expect from the BCCI, not from a corporate leader with a reputation. As we all know the Chairman of Selectors, also has this distressing habit of talking to the media about his displeasure with individual players! If one of the CEOs of Mr.Mallya’s businesses had not delivered, how would Mallya have handled it. Quite differently I am sure. Why does managing cricket cause people to lose their heads?

Mr. Mallya I am no expert in public relations, but something tells me that Sir Richard Branson would have handled the situation differently. As a cricket lover I can only say that “its just not cricket”. But as an observer of public relations I can tell you that good businessmen “praise in Public and criticize in private”. And to criticize to the media, that is just not the done thing. The Royal Challengers team has its fair share of problems, some of which can be fixed. But the largest problem seems to be a jittery owner.

Now who will fix that problem?

Midsummer night’s excitement

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2008/05/01/stories/2008050150100200.htm

It is just a week (at the time of writing) since the IPL had a spectacular opening night at the M. A. Chinnaswamy stadium at Bengaluru on April 18. Opening night hardly seems the way to describe a new cricketing format and tournament, but that is pre cisely what it was.
It had glamour, excitement, extravaganza, music, performances, laser shows and, to top it all, a fantastic display of fireworks that had live and television audiences oohing and aahing. The show was something that any Indian would have been proud of and I am no exception. Sadly, the match that followed was a damp squib, or at least the Royal Challengers’ innings, if you could call it that, was a demonstration on how not to play the 20-20 format.
The last week has been a kaleidoscope of action on the field, some truly exciting games that have gone to the wire, some typically one-sided games, a few goof-ups in the organisation of the game, ratings on the rise, a lot of advertising on the screen – a lot of it, as it happens in India, intruding into the game, controversies regarding the cheerleaders, some of it probably justified and perhaps a taste of the overkill on cricket that one is sure to be exposed to before the finals on June 1.

BCCI or IPL? Who runs the game on the ground?

In my view, and that is not an isolated view, the IPL as a concept in cricket has been a marketing coup. It has been a well orchestrated sales pitch culminating in the finalising of the cash-rich franchisees, a players’ auction where players were bid for and bought - making Adam Gilchrist feel a bit like a cow (albeit a well paid one!), the enormous build-up and hype preceding the event with every newspaper and television channel in the country (the numbers of which seem beyond my comprehension, at least) devoting entire sections to it and the television commercials promoting the event before the tournament …

Thankfully, the IPL at least seems to have got its advertising act right for the later commercials are far better than the karmayudh ones that launched the event. Of course, there is learning for us as well. Just check which team your dentist supports lest you end up in the dentist’s chair – naïve and as a supporter of the opposing side as the IPL commercial depicts! Beware too of thin ladies with keychains who get into the same lift as you, they just might be supporting some other team!

But advertising is the easy part; the more difficult part is the organisation and here the IPL or BCCI has miles to go before it sleeps. Take the match played at the Eden Garden before a capacity crowd of over a 100,000 people and television audiences of a few millions. The pitch that was dished out for such a crucial game was a landmine and the batsmen were expecting the ball to explode in their faces and they played tentatively. Of course, an enquiry has been ordered into the affair and we all know what happens to enquiries in our country! However, let me quickly mention that a sporting pitch is not such a bad idea. People do not want to see only sixes and fours, but tense, tight games.

As though we had not had enough excitement for one evening, the lights failed at a crucial stage of the Eden Gardens game and we almost had a record in the possible intervention of Msrs Duckworth and Lewis in deciding the outcome of the match! Thankfully, there was light at the end of the tunnel literally and the match was resumed after a delay of half-an-hour which seemed like two hours, late as it was in the night.

The matches too for some strange reason start at 8 p.m. and given the lethargic manner in which some teams bowl and the dew which makes them rub the ball after every delivery ensures that most matches end only at 11.30 pm. Why are matches starting so late? Is it to woo the soap audiences who can join the second innings after seeing Kolangal? Incidentally, Tamil Nadu seems to have pretty low viewership still. I suppose it is difficult to beat the lure of the soaps and the tearjerkers!

More confusion followed in Mumbai where a fantastic show of fireworks was followed by a shower of debris on the playing area and one saw a bemused Jacques Kallis, who was perhaps more used to repairing the damage in the South African innings, actually repairing the playing surface and cleaning it up! And finally, the cheerleaders! I read the interesting comment by someone saying that the gyrations of the cheerleaders were not much different from what one saw from the Mumbai bar girls. Having never had the good fortune of visiting these heritage spots of that great city, I cannot comment. But what I can say is that US audiences have demonstrated time and again that cheerleaders do not make a difference to audiences or viewership and if what one is seeing on television is any indication, I am sure it is just a waste of time and money. I suppose too that our cameramen can find better angles than the ones they are using now to show the Redskins and the other cheerleaders at the various venues. What seems to be on offer most of the time is skin while reason suggests that people might be more interested in the sight of wood striking leather!

Taking the audience for a ride!

IPL has delivered ratings to the franchisees and advertisers as the games have overtaken ongoing reality shows and family soaps. Clearly, IPL is the season’s biggest blockbuster; whether it is because of the cricket or entertainment is still a toss-up.

What is not in doubt is that the games have got a much higher percentage of women viewers as 8.2 million women in six metros watched the initial matches and the average viewership was as high as 23 minutes. Yes, the initial excitement, interest and viewership are all heady, and yet a word of caution is relevant here. As an avid watcher of the cricket, I repeat, and not the cheerleaders, I am appalled at the high percentage of television commercials. I am sure the network was happiest when the lights went out at the Eden Garden as commercial after commercial kept getting repeated, many of them boring. The sad part is that while advertisers and agencies are going gaga about 20-20 as a great opportunity, the sad reality is that none of them has done anything specific for the event or the format, except the IPL itself and the teams. They keep showing the same commercials, many of these commercials are too long for a shortened version of the game.

Also, there is a distressing reappearance of the creepy-crawlies that used to bother us in the old video cassettes that we saw a few years ago. Remember those obnoxious ad messages that used to be below the visual, often encroaching into the visual area? Well, they seem to be back with a bang. I remember a few commercials – maybe they were from Hyundai or Godrej. I think channels have a duty too to the viewer. I am sure they will find enough ways of making money, but remember you are killing the golden goose and are putting off the genuine viewers who make this whole economy sustainable.

So, whom should I support?

I have spent the last 28 years of my life in Bangalore, a city I love, traffic jams, airport controversies et al. Yet, I cannot imagine supporting this team though I personally admire Rahul Dravid. Should I support the Chennai team because I was born there and spent the first 27 years of my life? Should it matter to me that the highly paid captain of the Chennai team, the charismatic M.S. Dhoni, cannot speak a word of Tamil? Maybe I should support the Rajasthan team as perhaps I could take a holiday there or because Shane Warne has given me more pleasure as a viewer than any other cricketer?

Ultimately, it will just boil down to the cricket, which is probably why that all this new viewership caused by stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta and the entertainment such as fireworks and concerts by Hariharan may dwindle, and women will go back to the familiarity of the soaps and leave only the diehards like me to watch the cricket.

This is the biggest challenge. Rahul Dravid, before the first match, said he wanted to see a sea of red in the stadium as red was the team’s colour. But were the T-shirts available before the match? I am not sure, as the launch seemed to happen much later. To me, the defining moment of the week’s cricket so far was in the match between the Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers. Mukesh Ambani, the owner of the Mumbai team, was in the crowd wearing his team’s colours. Rahul Dravid, the captain of the opposing team, played a wonderful on drive (he does that when he gets rid of the shackles in his mind) and Ambani stood up and cheered. Yes, thank you, Sir, for reminding us it is about the game and its quality and not the narrow confines that have been artificially created by marketers. It is only the quality of the cricket and the talent of the cricketers that will sustain the IPL, aided as it will be by the very natural excitement that the 20-20 format inherently provides.

Here is hoping that there is more excitement in the game. Therein lies the real entertainment.

(Ramanujam Sridhar is CEO, brand-comm, and the author of One Land, One Billion Minds.)

How agile is your company?

We live in times that simultaneously present great opportunities and tremendous challenges as well. Companies need to do multiple things and follow different strategies to stay ahead in this complex environment. Today, one particular strategy that is gaining increasing credence in the corporate world is that of “agility”.

A study conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton amongst CEOs threw up an interesting fact: CEOs had identified “improving corporate agility” as their most important goal, next to topline revenue growth. This made me wonder. Yes, it does seem important and even allows companies who claim competence in this discipline to actually stand out from their competition.

But are companies actually practising what they preach? I know for a fact that my company is not as agile as some of our competitors or even half as agile as it ought to be. That leads me to a question that seems easier to ask than to actually answer. “How agile is your company?” More critically, “Is agility up there on your agenda so that it gets the sort of senior management attention and energy that it so patently deserves.”

What makes for agility?
“It is no longer enough to respond to change; today, organisations must lead change or be left behind,” says leadership expert Pollyanna Pixton. Today, there is growing interest in change and change becomes extremely relevant in the context of agility because being agile means being proficient at change. Agility allows an organisation to do anything it wants to or has to do to remain agile.

An agile enterprise is basically a change proficient organisation. So here is another thought that crosses my mind. Does your organisation talk more about change or is it at the forefront of creating change? Or is it, like most corporations, merely responding to change? Sometimes questions can be uncomfortable, but the smarter organisations address them sooner rather than later.

Innovation at the heart of agility
Innovation is another attribute that companies seem to aspire for. Though innovation seems to be part of the mission statement of most companies, it seems to be revered more in rhetoric than in actual practice. While a few companies like Apple seem to have innovation in their DNA, many others still seem to be coming to terms with the concept or the process to make it an integral part of their thinking and functioning.

Let’s study innovation in a little more detail. Where is it generally found? Innovation is most often found in product design and an innovative product that readily comes to mind is the iPod.

In the Indian context one remembers the Titan Edge, which was the slimmest watch in the world, truly elegant and breakthrough. India too can claim credit for the “single serve” packaging revolution that the sachet brought to Indian consumers and the contribution of brands like Chik to bringing this product to what C. K. Prahalad, the eminent management professor, called the “bottom of the pyramid”.

Innovations could also be in the strategy that companies devise and Titan’s revolutionising of the concept of gifting watches was an innovative strategy that made and continues to make a difference to the brand’s fortunes. Other smart companies innovate in their processes and that helps them gain leadership. Infosys has made the global delivery system a differentiator, while other companies and brands have innovatively positioned themselves to stand out from their competitors. Often , agile companies can discover and lead a paradigm shift and move to a different level of opportunity as the early movers in the Internet space demonstrated. So what is innovative about your company?

How can your organisation be agile?
Let’s take a look at some agile organisations and see what makes them tick or what other aspiring corporations can do to climb onto the agility bandwagon. While enterprises have executives and managers at varying levels, who contribute to the company’s progress, the agile ones have a tremendous amount of healthy debate on critical issues that impact the company and its business.

In case you want your company to be agile, it might not be a bad idea to heighten the quantity and quality of debates within the company. But before that, run a quick reality check on the company culture. Is it conducive to debate? Do people have the freedom to disagree with ideas? Is there a culture of disagreeing without being disagreeable?

It is critical that organisations provide their employees time for learning and self-development. Often enough, many companies have a board of directors who take their functional responsibility more seriously than their role as part of a senior management team that guides and directs the destiny of the company. It is important for directors to play a larger role that cuts across functional specialisations.

Smarter companies also back multiple ideas, much the way a punter would go to a strange race course and back a few horses as he might not know which one will get him the jackpot. Agile companies make more decisions and quickly move from an authoritarian to a collaborative style of management that serves today’s needs better. Technology companies, given the nature of their business and environment, seem to have applied more thought to agility and use methods like extreme programming and Scrum which seem to work for them. It is, perhaps, worthwhile to remember that agility need not be the domain of technology companies only and every company must consider it as a strategic differentiator.

Customer focus the key
Business usually revolves around the customer. Companies need to constantly scan the environment to sense and define meaningful changes in the environment and gear themselves up to respond to these changes so that they can serve their customer needs better. It seems obvious that customer needs are changing frequently and on occasion dramatically, if not unreasonably. It seems obvious that the smart companies will deliver to their customers whilst the more agile companies will deliver it quicker, better and perhaps more cost-effectively. So how well are you monitoring customer needs? And how geared is your organisation to meet their changed needs? Introspection seems to be the need of the hour.The way forward
Running companies is not easy. Often enough, the urgent seems to take precedence over the important. Agility is something that has to be urgently put on the agenda of companies if they have to stay ahead. As the adage goes, “In the future, there will be only two types of companies; those that are quick and those that are dead.”

I am sure we would all much rather live and thrive than be dead. While it is all very nice to want to be agile, it is more critical for companies to have a process in place to improve their agility. Intent is only half the battle, the other half is the discipline of a process that will get you there.

Get there first or be left behind forever.

(The writer is CEO, brand-comm and the author of ‘One land, one billion minds’.)

Is innovation the name of the game?

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2008/04/17/stories/2008041750050200.htm

Where’s the beef?” asked Clara Peller, former manicurist turned TV celebrity in her campaign for Wendy’s, which was one of the most recalled advertising campaigns of all time so much so that it made it into the editorial, the langua ge of the street, jokes and even underwear. Closer home Minute Maid has launched a similar campaign with perhaps far less impact with the line “Where’s the pulp?” Inspired by these thoughts and all the developments in the world of cricket and the competition between ICL and IPL and the weakness that exists genetically in ICC led me to this important question “Where’s the innovation in cricket?”

It seems obvious to me that the BCCI has demonstrated tremendous innovativeness (borrowed as it is from other sports such as basketball and football) in the conceptualisation and marketing of the IPL to various cash-rich franchisees. But for IPL to hold its own and thrive, or for ICL to survive even, one or both of them need to come up with innovations that extend to the game, its audiences and viewers, not only to the advertisers and marketers whose importance cannot be ignored.

Space-seller’s delight
Cricket is not only the number one passion in this country but the one which has witnessed very creative selling. When I was in South Africa in 2003 to watch the World Cup, I was talking to one of the TV technicians covering the event and he said, “You Indians are amazing! Imagine having sponsors for the weather report and the toss!” Yes, those certainly and many more, like the fours and the sixes package and the hunk of the day show, multi-tasking suggestions, SMS contests like naming your favourite player … clearly the demand for advertising time so far has been much more than the supply and the marketers have excelled themselves in innovation.

Of course, there is a quick downside to this. The current test series between South Africa and India has been a revelation in the sense that one actually got to see the batsmen talking to each other in the middle between overs. What? No commercials! You must be joking! Yet, the ICC, greedy as it is, aided and abetted by other boards, is running the risk of killing the real McCoy, which is test cricket. The West Indies has finished playing Sri Lanka at home and New Zealand have just finished a home series against England while the ICL matches were on every day, not to forget the Deodhar trophy and the Challenger series even if we are allowed to forget the Pura Cup, the finals of which were shown here too in India. Was anyone watching? This will be the ultimate challenge and soon there will be less and less test and one-day cricket and more of 20:20 cricket.

The innovation of television
Television coverage of test cricket started (hold your breath) in 1938 when England played Australia at Lord’s. But it has come quite far since then, though one must remember that till 1989 coverage was only from one side of the wicket, the logic being that when you watched a match live, you watched it from the same seat in the stadium.

Innovations have multiplied since the days of Kerry Packer and Channel 9 has led the way. StumpVision’s value was demonstrated by Shane Warne’s ball of the century. Throw in the snickometer, stump microphones (even if they throw up bilge on reproduction), slow motion replays to fractions of frames … all these and more have made it an absolute delight to watch cricket even if in India one’s viewing of the cricket has usually been interrupted by avaricious television channels. I am sure we will continue to watch even more technological innovations, all of which will make us better umpires than Simon Tauffel, the world’s best umpire, even if we give our decision seven replays later!

Necessity the mother of innovation

When Kerry Packer threatened to divide the cricketing world in two he came up with some outstanding innovations not only in the marketing of the game but in its running. Coloured clothing still rules the roost, though teams such as ICL’s Chennai Superstars hurt your eyes with the colour of their uniforms. Today most of the cricket is played under lights especially the shorter version of the game. Replays on the big screen that had the audience sweating…all these and more have been there for ages. The wonders that we experienced twenty years ago when we first watched World Series cricket are there, perhaps not too much new has been added. The ICL is doing many things that have been done before even if getting item number starlets to perform in between innings might be termed as an innovation by them, even if it seems pretty boring stuff to me, more so since my wife always seems to be around when that particular item comes on!

Where’s the innovation?

Let’s take two of the most hyped cricketing formats that are currently on view for us in India - ICL and IPL.
ICL already has eight teams and IPL will have a further eight. Let us look at some of the names as the name is perhaps the most visible part of a brand, even a sports brand. If you ignore the prefixes of the places, which are inevitable, you will find lions, superstars, heroes, champs, rockets, kings, challengers, chargers and royals. All the franchisees want to build brands around their respective franchisees but they seemed to have missed the first chance to be different or innovative.

All the franchisees have announced their teams with tremendous fanfare though some clearly have been lukewarm both in the composition of the teams and the way they have gone about announcing them to the media. Of the lot, I must mention that the King Khan’s launch of his team Knight Riders probably stole the thunder. We had him exposing his teams, his mascot the golden helmet, his commercials (ad infinitum on the channel as publicity) and even the team’s anthem.

While an anthem per se is an interesting idea, at the risk of sounding cynical, I must tell you that the Aussie chant “C’mon Aussie C’mon” is at least 20 years old as an idea. Having said that I am not even sure how ready the other teams are with their merchandise and promotions given the fact that the tournament starts on April 18.

The challenge of the future

Twenty-twenty is a phenomenal concept and our winning of the world 20:20 competition in South Africa will not be forgotten by us in a hurry. In fact, the ICL, which has much older players who retired some time ago like Ian Harvey and Stuart Law, to name just two, has had its fair share of exciting games and I just got a mailer from ICL saying that one particular game had a TVR of 2.6. When I used to live in Chennai, I used to find people stopping to watch a fourth division league match being played at the Madras Medical College grounds. So people will watch ICL, IPL, just about any L provided the cricketers perform.

Unfortunately, the BCCI and the franchisees have built too much hype around the generic interest of the 20:20 format. The recent ad for IPL saying it is more than a dharmayudh, it is a karmayudh. Wow! Adam Gilchrist slogging it out with Shane Warne promises to be certainly a war of karma! Speak about “mere puffery” that advertising specialises in! We do know that whenever any brand over promises and does not deliver on expectation it falls flat on its face. The IPL has to deliver on the consumer experience both in the stadium and in front of the TV screens. Getting skimpily dressed foreign models as cheerleaders is hardly the most innovative thing that one can think of. When Australia played England in a 20:20 game last year at the SCG I think it was, the commentator spoke to Gilchrist even as he was belting sixes and when the commentator asked Michael Vaughan what his strategy was, he very candidly said that he was only thinking of getting out of the hard hit ball’s way! Those to my mind were innovations as they gave the viewer something he had not been getting earlier and they had nothing to do with another meaningless contest or another opportunity to sell space.

My advice to both the franchisees and the IPL is to look for ways to engage the spectator in his team, the game and cricket, not at the meaningless things that go by the way of entertainment. The real entertainment for cricket has to happen within 22 yards and the game has enough entertainers and characters to hold the attention of a billion people even.

Yet, why should I, living in Bangalore, support Jacques Kallis or my cousin in Hyderabad chant slogans for Andrew Symonds? That is the challenge of the modern game and I guess traditionalists like me are going to watch less of their favourite sport test cricket. But we have an open mind to change; we still watch one-day cricket and 20:20 cricket. But please do something different around the game of cricket that will engage, enthrall and make me loyal.

(Ramanujam Sridhar is CEO, brand-comm, and the author of One Land, One Billion Minds.)

A time to reflect

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2008/04/03/stories/2008040350080200.htm

Conventions, fests and industry gatherings are not only a wonderful time to network and catch up on gossip as much as a time to consider larger issues like the state of the industry that has given us everything that we have. In my 25th year in thisindustry (God, has it been so long, it hardly seems like that though!) many things have changed, while many others have not. Clients continue to be what they are, creative and account management cannot see eye to eye and there is never enough money to give the campaign the money it so desperately needs, we are not paid half of what we deserve… Having cleared the air of all these obvious generalities let us spend a little time on the industry and the way forward.

The very essence of the agency business
Sometimes we tend to forget the basics or the obvious things in our quest for unreasonable goals. Brands need a raison d’etre, a basis for existence. Like Starbucks came into existence because the average American needed a “third place” in his life after his home and his place of work. In the same context, what does advertising bring to the table? Or if we were to borrow a concept from C. K. Prahalad, the renowned management guru, “What is the core competence of the advertising agency business?” It is creativity; pure and simple. We can talk of global networks, integration of allied services, media optimisation and indeed we must. But at the end of the day nothing much has changed since the days of Claude Hopkins. Clients still come to agencies because they have a need. They wish to sell their products and services and they expect outstanding creative that will make that happen.

Leaders or followers?
The agency business believes in understanding the consumer and pushing buttons to make her act in a particular way. In short, our understanding of insights that motivate the consumer to act in a particular way are reflected in our creative, whether it is for insurance or detergents or shampoos. Yet to me it seems passive and represents more of an efficient follower of trends. Films, for instance, however bad they may be on occasion, have tended to lead change while the advertising industry has been content to follow the trends that someone else seems to represent. Yes, it is true when we say that advertising reflects the times we live in. But does that mean we lose the capability to lead change? One of my clients had an interesting thought. He said, “You agency guys are pretty good at following clients. You do the things we want, open offices if we ask you to which is all fine. But I have a suggestion for you. Why don’t you follow the consumer and her trends rather than follow clients?” Interesting question! I wish I had the answer to that one.

East or West the Indian way is the best
The way I looked at the world when I was 21 is different from the way my children who are around that age look at it. I was diffident, looking to the rest of the world for guidance, inspiration and approval if not for recognition. Today my children and their peers are confident, sometimes, I feel, to the point of arrogance. They do not need the approval of the rest of the world and that, sadly, includes their parents.

The environment, mood and overall outlook has metamorphosed, to put it mildly. If I were to look at this change from the advertising industry’s perspective we were in awe of Madison Avenue and looked to them for inspiration. Today I guess we still look at Madison Avenue for the approval of our budgets but there is a definite reliance on Indian thoughts, insights and ideas even if that has meant that scripts are conceptualised with a turn of phrase that is essentially Hindi that challenges the likes of me.

But what I am proposing is perhaps slightly different. Let me borrow from two sports, hockey and cricket though I must confess that my knowledge of the former is sketchy at best. When I was young Indian hockey was supreme on the world stage and then we lost our way as we were unable to find a style that worked for us in the face of the strength and the different styles followed by teams from Europe and Australia and we were left behind. In cricket we have found a new dominance, which, one hopes, will last. The reason for our success is because our batsmen continue to be essentially wristy and stylish while our fast bowlers have suddenly discovered pace, bounce and swing that we were usually subjected to. In a sense this is the best of two worlds as we have built on something that we already have, and acquired something that was lacking. The Western advertising world has believed in the power of the single-minded idea which, to my mind, is still the most compelling way of producing advertising. Couple that with an ability to create for our consumers and you will have a winner. I think a lot of Indian advertising is good and what prevents it from becoming great is the preoccupation with a Hindi turn of phrase and not so much the power of the idea and its long-term value.

Integration! What it is?
Agencies have been talking about integration for almost two decades now and their understanding of it is becoming hazier by the moment. For too long agencies have said “One voice” when they actually meant “One invoice”. Integration is a powerful concept that has delivered wonderfully for brands. Take a brand like Britannia’s 50-50 which has used this concept wonderfully, even sponsoring the third umpire’s decision in cricket matches where the audience waited tensely for the decision. Was the batsman in the crease or outside? Fifty-fifty! 100 per cent for integration! One of the reasons for the poor execution of this concept of integration by others has been the limited understanding of some of the communication disciplines by the people concerned. Take public relations … for instance, the advertising agency thinks that PR is getting its commercial reviewed while the PR company is clueless about the power of advertising or the strategy behind its own client’s campaign. The onus on integration, therefore, is squarely with the client. How many hats will the poor client wear, however gifted?

Is positioning only for clients and her brands?
Agencies have been brilliant in differentiating their client’s products for over 150 years. Remember the “bottles washed in steam?” Agencies too have been responsible for brands owning words in the consumer’s mind. Volvo has owned the word ‘safety’, Volkswagen has stood for ‘reliability’ and Nike has stood for ‘attitude’. Let us not forget that agencies have created this differentiation and helped position these brands uniquely. Sadly the agencies have failed to position themselves clearly. They continue to be ‘full service’, ‘creative boutique’ or ‘ideas’. What word does the agency own in client’s minds? They need to think about this. Charity, after all, begins at home.

A few good men and women
The economy is booming, if what one reads and sees in the media is any indication, and advertising cannot be left behind in an economy like ours. Yet we are constrained by the lack of people. In the Eighties we had people from top flight management schools coming to advertising. Several of the MDs of India’s leading agencies are from one top flight management school or the other. Today advertising agencies are going to smaller, less reputed and inferior schools to recruit. Advertising has lost out and become a low-involvement career option if at all it is an option. Clients who complain about the size of the agency retainers are also critical about the sort of people who are handling their business. This is the biggest challenge for the advertising industry. How does it package itself better with clients so that they see the value they are providing and hence get paid better? How to position the agency business as a destination for young men and women?

Do better ads
In 1987 when I was being interviewed by Mr. A. G. Krishnamurthy, the then CMD of Mudra, he asked me the usual question, “Why do you want to join Mudra?” I looked at the pin-up board in his cabin and said “I want to be involved with work like your agency is doing”. The work for Vimal and Rasna in those days, to me, at least, was path-breaking. I think the long term solution for the agency business is to produce work that people notice, talk about and love. Young people will want to be a part of this fascinating process of creativity. The Benton and Bowles agency used to have this philosophy: “If it doesn’t sell it isn’t creative’.

My advice to the advertising industry is simple “If we don’t sell ourselves to young people, we will no longer be creative.”

(Ramanujam Sridhar is CEO, brand-comm, and the author of One Land, One Billion Minds)

Indian Premier League or Initial Public Offering?

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2008/03/06/stories/2008030650030200.htm

The year has been wonderful for cricketers. Even if it has not been raining runs and wickets for some of them, they have been drenched in crores of rupees by the Indian Premier League which has shown the world how to sell a product for a huge premium and created enormous hype about a revolutionary concept (for cricket certainly …) and got franchisees to pay enormous sums of money.
Actually, the word ‘enormous’ seems woefully inadequate, and to borrow an expression from my all time favourite author, the “imagination boggles.” The BCCI has earned Rs 4,124 crore from media rights, Rs 2,909 crore from team sales and some smoke money of Rs 200 crore from DLF, the title sponsor, while the earnings from player sales have not been disclosed.
As for the players, Mysore Sandal soap might consider M. S. Dhoni a slippery customer because he is alleged to have reneged on his contract, but the Chennai franchisee India Cements paid Rs 6.03 crore for him to lead its side. The Hyderabad franchisee Deccan Chronicle bought the explosive Andrew Symonds for Rs 5.43 crore and floored him and hopefully he will be better behaved in future.
Let me mention an astonishing fact just to give you an indication of how outlandish these prices are. Ishant Sharma, the latest Indian new ball bowling sensation, will earn Rs 1 lakh for every ball that he bowls in the Indian Premier League while millions of poor people like you and me will cheer him on even as we count our paises. All this hype and hoopla reminds me of two things: Clearly, the twenty-twenty format is a lottery which the cricketers and the BCCI have won.
The second is that all this hype and hoopla reminds me of the Indian stock market where any idiot could make money, or so idiots like me were led to believe as IPOs flooded the market at fancy P/Es and investors just had to get allotments for them to make a killing.
Reliance Power’s issue, which was oversubscribed 73 times, had the company laughing all the way to the bank as the company raised Rs 11,700 crore.
Sadly, the investors had nothing to smile about as the stock opened below the issue price and did not recover till Anil Ambani offered a bonus. Several other proposed offerings like Wockhardt and Emaar MGF quietly withdrew their offers.
My question is simple: will the much-hyped, much-talked-about, brilliantly-marketed IPL be just another IPO that promises much, is wonderfully packaged and something that will hurt the people who have bought into the concept? And more significantly does it offer any exit options to the investors who get hurt in the bargain?

Core competence out of the window
There is a point of view that I agree with about the theory of core competence and “sticking to your knitting.”
That view is based on the premise that these theories have relevance for Western economies which are stagnant or have low growth rates and companies have to think several times over before undertaking investments in unrelated fields.
In India, it is different as we have a booming economy and companies have cash from unsuspecting investors like you and me who cheerfully subscribe to IPOs without bothering to read the prospectus and so are able to take decisions like the franchisees have taken without worrying too much about the consequences or the returns.
But many of the franchisees would be hard-pressed to justify this investment as they have had no prior association or long-term commitment to cricket. GMR is from infrastructure, Deccan Chronicle is a media house, India Cements manufactures and sells cement, while Preity Zinta and Shah Rukh Khan fuel dreams.
Of course, Reliance can get into anything and make a success of it, though they seem to have started out badly with a poorly composed team for Mumbai.
Significantly, several of these franchisees recently launched Initial Public Offerings and collected enormous sums of money, including DLF, the title sponsor. They seem to be unfazed by the fact that it may take a decade to recoup the investment (if at all) and are making some gloriously vague statements about “image” and “corporate social responsibility” being the driving forces behind this decision.
I would have loved to be a part of these discussions and this reminds me of the decision one of my clients took several years ago to sign on Amitabh Bachchan as a brand ambassador.
Those were the pre-KBC (Kaun Banega Crorepati) days and the Big B was actually on the way to being a “has been” while my client’s brand was right up there. He signed him up for a fantastic sum of money so that he could spend time with the actor who had been his idol and it was a great ego boost for him that he was actually on first name terms with the great actor and must have caused enough ripples in the cocktail circuits in those days!
Now many of our great cricketers have been signed on by franchisees for enormous sums of money that, to my mind, at least, is disproportionate to the returns, hopefully not for similarly trivial reasons like being able to rub shoulders with these celebrities whom one might not have met otherwise.

Hyderabad? Chennai or Tasmania?
One of the reasons why the format may fail is the fact that most cricket fans are rabidly nationalistic and chauvinistic.
Recently, one of the Indian fans had a placard at Sydney which read “Symonds, Hyderabad welcomes you” and our TV commentators, who are as rabidly nationalistic as you can hope to meet, said that here was evidence that Indians are a sporting race.
I nearly choked. I am sure they do not witness cricket matches from the stands here. There is a death-like silence when an Indian wicket falls and huge cheering for every edge the local batsman comes up with. I can’t imagine Ponting being supported in Mumbai and Symonds being cheered at Chandigarh. Involvement of the fan with the teams playing is crucial to success and that is not merely sporting the T-shirt of the local team and that will come with time, if at all. How the teams build links with the local community will be crucial. If you look at the English county system, people like Shane Warne have a tremendous following in Hampshire as he is loyal to the team, lives there during the season has captained the team and nurtured young talent.
Will that happen here? I am not sure as this seems like a quick and ready passport to instant wealth or financial security for a lot of retired or retiring Australians who must have done some wonderful things in their previous janams as their karma is kicking in cash in droves.

BCCI can sell and even threaten but ...
While the BCCI may have pulled off a tremendous marketing coup and made the world sit up and take notice, it is perhaps relevant to recollect the past and the BCCI’s track record. It is the same organisation that had Jagmohan Dalmia and now Sharad Pawar.
One is reminded of the handling of the leaked e-mail and the Ganguly-Chappell spat. It has never bothered about the end consumer or cricket.
You just have to watch a one-day game in India to understand what acute customer discomfort is. It sells the TV rights for crores of rupees to broadcasters who consistently eat into viewing time with commercials that are casually aired in the first ball and during the last ball. Where will the BCCI find the organising capability to handle this mammoth event?
The sale has been made but what about after-sales? Do they have the capability? I am not sure. Will people watch?
Remember the timing clashes with all the soaps. Will housewives let their husbands watch the cricket while their favourite soap is on air? Remember many households in India are still single-TV households.
The pricing of TV spots seems fancy at this point in time. The Sony formula of sports and entertainment that was widely touted as breakthrough had limited appeal in my view. One believes that you may get new viewers but diehard viewers like me may not show the same enthusiasm.BCCI can learn from Anil Ambani
Let me go back to the IPO example that I started with of Reliance Power. The issue, though tremendously oversubscribed, started really disappointingly at the bourses when it was listed initially. The overall depression surrounding the US recession and a combination of factors ensured that the market crashed and the IPO was hit. Clearly, Anil Ambani was shocked and all the euphoria surrounding the tremendous subscriptions evaporated at the poor opening.
Mind you, this was the market and not really a function of the issue. Everyone knew that the issue was overpriced, but they went ahead and bought the issue. They did get hurt and Anil Ambani stepped in and offered a bonus as he was concerned about the real owners of the company – the investor.
The real owners of Indian cricket are people like you and me who love the game. People who watch the game on TV for hours on end support the team and even travel abroad to support it. I only hope the BCCI will show the same concern for us while running the IPL and itself in future. That will be Indian cricket’s greatest gain — not the enormous revenue it has got from IPL.

Ramanujam Sridhar is CEO, brand-comm and the author of “One land, one billion minds”.

Outsmarted by Jim Champy

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/manager/2008/03/03/stories/2008030350271000.htm

Is the US in recession and what are the portents for companies. Read on to find out more from the management guru.

It is not often that one gets an opportunity to interview a management legend whose books and theories have made a profound difference to companies, businesses and professionals the world over. I am talking about James ‘Jim’ Champy, the Chairman of Perot Systems’ consulting practice and the author of Reengineering the Corporation: A manifesto for Business Revolution which has sold more than 3 million copies. Champy, who was in India recently, spoke to me on a variety of subjects including his latest book Outsmart! to be published in April 2008.

It was an interesting and insightful experience to spend an hour with someone who has so much to offer and who did it with so little effort and such readiness. He had a point of view that he put forth lucidly and strongly. He was extremely bullish about India, its prospects and its people. Most significantly, individuals and organisations have benefited from his writings and teachings and I am sure there will be a lot of wisdom in his forthcoming book. Excerpts from the interview:

On the recession in the US economy and the strategy for companies

Yes there is a recession around the corner, perhaps caused by some imprudent actions by some bankers, but the fundamentals of business are strong. It is perhaps here that the relevance of a book like Outsmart! comes out loud and clear. Companies with good people and good ideas can actually take advantage of the recession to take customers away from their competition.

On globalisation and its implications
Today, the competition is perhaps a lot more intense than it has ever been in the past and we live in a truly global economy. When Perot Systems was founded, there were no companies like Infosys, Wipro and TCS to compete with it. The fact that these are performing well today is testimony to the success of a global economy. It is either a problem or an opportunity depending on how you view it. While politicians in the US are making it out to be a problem, it is smart companies who are capitalising on it.

On the readiness of Indian companies to compete in this marketplace
Indian companies have great ambition and a willingness to take risks. There are a number of young entrepreneurs who have started small and wish to go places. Let’s not forget that the human resources potential in India is enormous and there are quite a few investors with deep pockets who are waiting in the wings to invest in this country.

The role of the leader in troubled and competitive times like these

My advice to leaders is to keep your ambition high. Troubled times may actually provide opportunities to acquire some of your competitors, and remember that there are a lot of people waiting in the wings with cash. But leaders need to be transparent in troubled times like these and be more open in terms of communication as there will be a lot of uncertainty in the minds of young people, particularly those who have probably never faced a downturn. There is another related issue in technology companies, particularly in India, where companies are growing at a healthy rate still. The problem is that these companies and their leaders are not paying enough attention to their human resources and have not defined the career growth plans of the young people who work for them.

On the importance of “employer branding”
I think it is important to remember that a brand alone will not engage people. The great companies engage customers and talents. The great companies are not concerned so much about their brands as much as they are with a strong idea that is the core of their strategy that people can relate to. Engage your employees and give them an opportunity to do “virtuous work” and ensure their career growth. I really envy the companies that do not have to sell to consumers or to talent. Take Apple for instance. They do not have to sell the iPod, people want it. Similarly you need not sell your employer brand if people are drawn to it.

On innovation and how certain companies are better at it
Traditionally, smaller companies are geared to take more risks and tend to be more innovative. The business model and size of the larger companies actually make it a lot more difficult for them to take risks or even to be more innovative, particularly in comparison with smaller companies. Culture becomes very important in companies that seek to be innovative. Companies like these seem to draw people who are excited about ideas and there are shared characteristics that keep fuelling the spirit of innovation.

And finally, his advice to young people who are entering the work force
Work for a real company that makes something. Do not join a bank or a consulting company. Learn what it is to make something before you start to consult; you may even get discouraged by it, but you will learn in the bargain. Try to find a job where you meet customers, try not to spend your entire life in a cubicle and most importantly, learn from your customers.

(The writer is CEO of brand-comm and the author of ‘One Land, One Billion Minds’.)

Software firms must shape up or ship out

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Mar32008/eb2008030255222.asp

Indian companies are moving up slowly. The fact is that customers actually want you to move up the value chain and a few companies like Infosys have already made the transition. Most Indian software companies are still largely providing high quality but low end work.

Reeling under the burden of the US economy, which is seemingly headed for recession, the hassled country’s tech firms are preparing for tougher times. Dr Michael Cusumano, the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor at the MIT’s Sloan School of Management, throws light on the effect of the slowdown on Indian software industry and how companies must gear up for the future. Dr Cusumano, a consultant and author of several books. Ramanujam Sridhar on behalf of Deccan Herald caught up with Dr Cusumano, who was at SDM_IMD, a management institute at Mysore recently to deliver a lecture on leadership. Here is an excerpt from the interview:

Deccan Herald: Can you tell us about the impact of US recession on the Indian software industry?

Michael Cusumano: Yes, there is a strong likelihood of a recession but it is largely consumer oriented and will have a limited impact on the software industry that will probably be short term in nature. But the long term threats to the software industry are more serious and they are arising from the rising wages and the shortage of skilled manpower. A significant threat too is the fact that a variety of countries and regions like the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, China and Latin America are realising the value of outsourcing as a business opportunity and staking strong claims.

DH: Do you see a change in the business dynamics of software business?

MC: The divisions between product and service are blurring. Earlier the software product companies like Oracle and SAP were selling the products and Indian services companies had taken up the implementation, maintenance and customisation of these products. With the wage rise that has recently hit the industry, it must be ahead of the curve and pay more attention to services R&D if it wishes to retain its position of eminence. Smart companies like Infosys and IBM have recognised this and are gearing themselves for the future. However, companies cannot afford to forget the fact that products are the main engines that drive the demand for services. There is a need to invest in R&D spending.

DH: Are Indian companies at the low end or the high end of the value chain?

MC: Indian companies are moving up slowly. The fact is that customers actually want you to move up the value chain and a few companies like Infosys have already made the transition. Most Indian software companies are still largely providing high quality but low end work. My advice to them is simple “Shape up or ship out!” There is a need for companies to get into the consultant mindset first. There is a constraint here though as Indian software companies have an overwhelming majority of their people as engineers. They would be well advised to look at management graduates in larger numbers to get a better business perspective of the software business and client needs.

DH: What is the way forward for Indian software business?

MC: Traditionally, software has meant different things to different nations, simply because they have a different cultural orientation. Let me explain. In Europe software is seen as a “science” dictated by formal methods and object-oriented design. In Japan software is seen as “production” given the pre-occupation with zero defects. In India software is seen as a “service” and there has been the rapid emergence and evolution of firms like Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Satyam to name a few. In the US software is seen as a “business” with global products like Windows, Microsoft office, navigator and global services being provided by companies like IBM, Accenture, EDS etc. The way forward for the software business in India is the realisation that future leaders will lead in basic research. The software industry in India must realise that the services business is presently labour-intensive and India will be hard pressed to keep up the growth rates as the rising cost of wages is already a pressure point.

The writer is the CEO of brand-comm and author of ‘One land,one billion minds’

Ten thoughts for 2008

Today is the 10th of January, it is still the beginning of the year and coincidentally I wondered if we could think of ten things that the advertising industry and people in communication can do to make the year better for themselves, the respective industries they belong to and their clients. Here too I rely on the wisdom of my peers who have given me their ideas and suggestions and all I am doing is packaging it, hopefully in a manner that makes sense to you, dear reader. In a sense you could view this as a sequel to my year end column on the year that was that was published in this supplement a fortnight ago which read “Rewind. Reflect. Rejuvenate”.

1. Lead don’t follow
The advertising industry faithfully portrays society in all its changing hues and looking at today’s advertising one can see that the agency’s insights are drawn from its understanding and observation of the changing Indian consumer and full credit to them for that. And yet rarely, if ever, does the advertising industry portray the future or lead the way. The entertainment industry, whatever its failings, has shown the way and led consumer aspiration. People seem to be looking to entertainment for more than mere entertainment. So my first question to the advertising industry is this: “Why can’t we be leaders instead of followers? Why can’t we show the way for consumers instead of following them?” Why not create trends instead of merely following them?”

2. Follow consumers not clients
Agencies historically have been brilliant in staying with their clients and following them geographically and aspirationally. And yet as a prominent client told me, agencies have a larger role to play that they are currently playing now. They seem to be preoccupied with their clients which is acceptable but that still may be woefully inadequate in today’s world. And that is in understanding end consumers, their aspirations and expectations. Where is the time or the bandwidth for the agency to do it today? And where is the guarantee that they are going to be compensated for this?

3. Stop living in the past, get to the future
The entire generation of current creative greats in the Indian context at least has been reared on the picture tube and the thirty second commercial. Their very creative reputations have been built around this medium observing today’s youth, particularly metropolitan youth and young adults who have taken to technology so easily leads me to place great emphasis on the digital medium. Prospective buyers of cars for instance look at the net as their first source of information and at the risk of repeating myself I have to say that the agency may be living in the past if it has not harnessed the digital medium and learned to create for this medium. Have agencies crossed the digital divide or are they still wedded to the picture tube?

4. Don’t go overboard on celebrities
The agency and client still seem to be in love with celebrities who seem to come in all sizes, shapes and hues. More often than not the indiscriminate use of celebrities seems to smack of poor strategy and one wonders whether both client and agency seem to rely on the celebrity when all else fails or when they are completely bereft of ideas. One hopes that the agency will be just a little more selective in 2008 if it has to use celebrities. There is no harm in hoping is there?

5. Understand retail and create for it
The advertising for retail still seems to be pretty sad and here I speak of what I am seeing as a consumer. They are all about some “Sale” or the other. Let me go back in time to catalogue advertising. Some of us may remember the catalogues that Sears and Roebuck used to bring out with such great effect and success. It was clearly communication that worked as the consumer was ordering the merchandise based on the catalogues that he got by mail. This called for communication that is effective not glitzy. I am not sure if today’s advertising agency is geared for effective creation of communication that is produced quickly within a limited budget. They must rely less and less on building image, eschew creativity for its own sake and focus on delivering footfalls and sales at the lowest cost. Is the agency ready?

6. Be a consultant, not a mere order taker.
For as long as I can remember agencies have clamoured for respectability and have asked to be treated as anything other than order takers that the rest of the world views them as and yet if one has to be brutally honest about it, agencies have done precious little to correct that impression. They need the client’s business and are afraid of upsetting the apple cart of an already shaky relationship and are eager to agree with what the client says however quixotic it may be. Very often brands don’t get what they need but usually end up getting what the client wants and the agency continues to do this even while chafing at the bit about not being treated as a consultant. So while the agency might want to be viewed as a consultant, it needs to do some honest soul-searching as well and figure out whether it is equal to the task and understand what is keeping it from being a consultant.

7. Find the people
Yet it is obvious why clients do not give us the respect we deserve, the fees that are so rightly due to us. It is simply because we do not have the people to deliver value to clients. And why is that? It is obviously because we cannot pay them what they are worth or at least what other industries are paying. So if we get the poorer crop it is equally likely that this set of people cannot deliver the value that clients want and the quality that makes us justify the tag of consultants that we so desperately want.

8. Train the people
Advertising agencies are going to inferior business schools to pick up their management trainees and compounding the problem by not training these people lest they leave. People will leave, other industries have mind boggling attrition rates, but if you train chances are that you may luck out with a couple of people at least from a batch that justifies the investment .And maybe there is an opportunity for the smaller agencies to actually train people and market them a year later! After all crazy times need crazy solutions!

9. Educate your clients
Clients, particularly who use services like public relations are clueless about the discipline or how to use their agency. For the long term future of the industry it is critical that clients be educated on what this entire business of public relations can and cannot do. So desperate are we to get the business that we start out as order takers who will ensure column centimeters of coverage and thus begins an unhappy relationship.

10. Integrate. Integrate. Integrate.
All the various communication vehicles are being used by clients and agencies, but sadly they seem to be working in a manner that is anything but integrated. I had the mortification of being asked by the communication head of a large multi national as to why I needed to know their advertising position to do public relations for him? By the time I explained what integration was to him, I had lost the few hairs that I had at the beginning of the meeting!

A new beginning
The beginning of the year is a great time not only for resolutions but also a time to think about our own industry, our professions, our clients and figure out a way forward. None of the ideas that I have suggested are completely new or earth shattering, nor have they suddenly surfaced this week. The business has been in existence for ages now, the problems too have persisted and perhaps now is the time to implement these ideas. Remember that ideas are dime a dozen and are of no use if not implemented. Let 2008 be the year of implementation of ideas that will make the industry get noticed and give it the place that it rightfully deserves under the sun! Here is hoping that 2008 for us will be a year like no other!

[Ramanujam Sridhar is CEO brand-comm and the author of “One land, one billion minds”].