Avidha: The little girl big on dreams, who made her dreams of becoming a copywriter real.

Avidha Mitra – The little girl from Indira School of Communication is now fast rising to be an accolade-winning copywriter in the Mecca of Advertising in India, Mumbai. I remember the Avidha of 8 years back, a simple girl, mischievous, fun girl, yet one who loved what she was studying – Mass Communication. She had told me once - She wanted to become an ideator. I had told her in no uncertain terms that our industry has no such 'ear marked' role of an ideator. I had said that you could either be a copywriter or an art person, who could also ideate. Art required a specific degree in art, which she did not have and for copywriting, it required different skill sets. She took the feedback on her chin but kept marching ahead in search of her dream. Next is I know that she has joined an agency in Mumbai as a Copywriter. Wow!

Our little bundle of fun would now leave no stone unturned to fulfill her dreams, now that she had got a foot in the door, I thought. And she did. She ideated very well, as she always did, wrote well and kept moving ahead conquering one milestone after another.

Here’s a little chat I had with her a few days ago, reproduced below with #nofilter

“Frankly, I never knew my passion lay in writing. Though as a kid I was fascinated about ideating things and probably had a passion for writing, but again, never knew it. When I was standing on the threshold of my career, lost and confused, there was one friend-philosopher-guide who helped me take my decision – Sonali Ma’am. 

I worked as a junior copywriter in a Mumbai-based advertising agency, The Code. I used to write for print advertisements and radio jingles. It wasn’t easy getting in though. Absolutely not. The industry was tough and to make an entry I made myself work hard, very hard. Right now, I am working at Shreyansh Innovation as a Sr. Copywriter and Creative Supervisor.

I got my first accolade at Engage Digital Summit  2016.  I participated in a social campaign #TheFagEnd, which was ran by CK Birla Hospital. Among thousands of entries my entry got selected and also the campaign bagged the award of Best Practices Use of Social Media, 2016. 

My dream role is to be a Creative Director in a renowned advertising firm like JWT or Ogilvy & Mather. My mantra is ‘Think out of the box, not out of the frame’. I would like to tell the current students to be proactive and spontaneous, as much as you can. Also, that they should look for good mentors. Mentors should ideally be spontaneous, less strict, friendlier and someone who allow the student to think as they like to. Along the journey, I had many good mentors. Like Sonali Brahma Ma’am, who guided me on the right path, and most importantly at the right time. She’s the first and only one who believed in me. I am grateful to her and will always be.”

Avidha, my best wishes are always with you!

Yeh Facebook # 2 hai meri jaan!

It used to stand in a corner quietly observing the techies zipping by in/on their sleek machines.  Whether you reached office at an ungodly 8 am or left at an equally zzzz11 pm+, the thing just stood there wrapped up in its myriad packages. I really hadn’t noticed its name till the day I decided to get myself a li’l bit of sunshine after lunch.

And then I saw it clearly - ‘Facebook Snacks Centre’!! 

Whoa! Had Mark sold off his online business and entered the street side café business? Or was he diversifying? Or was it simply his CSR activity for Indian techies? It could also be Mark’s long lost brother, who like the rich-poor Bollywood masala stories was suffering here, while his rich bro was pocketing likes and shares by the millions. Or was this simply the #2 competitor who thought the name would be enough to fetch him the fortunes of his namesake overseas?  

I couldn’t resist anymore. I had to find out.

“Where’s Kaki?” I asked the plain-looking man sitting there. ‘Kaki’ for the uninitiated was the techies’ pet name for the lady who ran the business.  Mark # 2 smiled pleasantly and asked me to take a seat. I pulled a rickety old plastic chair and sat next to the mobile thela (mobile van) which is stationed 24 x 7 at one place in Pune’s Silicon Valley.

“Kaki has gone off to catch some sleep”, he said. “I am her husband.”

“Why Facebook?”, I questioned. He smiled and said, “One young guy from this IT company you see here suggested this name. He told me, this is a name on everyone’s lips and would be a wonderful name. So I started calling my shop by this name. We sell dabba meals, Maggi, omelette pav and chai. My wife makes lip-smacking stuff – amchya sarkhi Maggi koni nahi banvat (read: no one makes Maggi the way we do).”

I was amazed! The man was talking pretty good English – despite being a localite Puneite!

“To us,” he continued, “customer satisfaction comes first. We take care of our customers. We don’t like to keep them waiting. We give them a personalized service. We remember their names and what they like. We believe in giving them quality food.” Complete CEO talk, I couldn’t stop from thinking aloud.

“Arre madam”, he said proudly.  “I quit my job at Tata because I wanted to help my wife fulfill her dreams of starting a hotel.  Today, we earn in one day what I used to earn in a month there.”

Till then, Kaki arrived, post sleep. Having had nothing much to do with education of any sorts, the lady smiled, insisted I have some of her special chai. When I asked Kaki to sit next to her husband so I could take a pic, she blushed.

I thanked them for their time and pics. Kaki’s other half got up too and invited me to his other shop – Taj 2! Wow! His logic behind this name – “There’s Taj # 1 in Mumbai (the hotel); but if you want to get the same service in Pune, there’s Taj # 2.” Saying this, he jumped on his BMW and pedaled away.

As I stared at this bite-size man with gigabyte-size dreams fading into the Sun on his antique full blown, shaky bicycle, I couldn’t help wondering – “Mark, mere bhai, you’ve got big time competition on your hands!” 

The Basic Branding Kit SMEs must have - The How

SME - Basic Branding Kit 

At the outset, when you are about to enter the market fresh with a dream and a mission, you need to have the following:

1.     Brand Identity

i)                Brand/Company Name

ii)              Brand/Company Logo

iii)            Company Stationery – Visiting Cards, Letterheads, Envelopes

2.     Brand Strategy – A document that details:

i)                Brand Core/Essence – Who am I?

ii)              Brand Vision and Mission – What is my purpose?

iii)            Target Audience – Who am I talking to?

iv)             Brand Positioning – How does my Target Audience see me?

v)               Value Proposition – Why should my Target Audience buy me?

vi)             Brand Personality – What do I look like, come across like, what is my personality as a brand?

vii)           Brand Message – What should I say (through any form of communication) so that my Target Audience responds the way I want them to?

3.     Road Map – The document that details where I am headed in the next 1, 5 or 10 years.

4.     Essential Collaterals – Website, Presentation, active Digital/Social Media presence

You may feel this is too much work and consumes too much time. But in this cut-throat world, you may not have a choice really.  

Invest a little time and money in your brand – it pays.

As you get busier in running the company and business, you will tend to ignore your brand and branding. It is a natural progression for most and needs to be consciously dealt with. Your brand is not ‘any other product’, it has the potential to join the ranks of big brands. If you believe in this, then you must invest time and money in your brand. Treat branding as a continuous growth program; you will do yourself and your brand a world of good.

The homework you need to do, to begin a branding program for your company

A little homework goes a long way in making your branding exercise fruitful. Just some rough notes on the following would be enough to kick start your branding program with your consultant/agency.

    1)     Who am I? (Your company)  

•          Who is my buyer? (Who do I want my buyer to be?)
•         Who are my competitors?
•         Where do I want to be?
•         Where am I today?
•         What does my buyer think of me today?
•        What do I want my buyer to think of me?

If you are too busy to work on these, no worries. Your agency/consultant will help you answer these. Just make sure you make some time for them.

SMEs in the industrial /engineering segment can immensely benefit from branding

The irony of today’s global marketplace is that there are few biggies, companies who make it to the Forbes list; while there are probably millions of others who are in the SME segment. The clutter is more here than there - at the top. The clutter gets worse in the industrial/engineering/B2B segment; what with thousands of small and medium sized companies vying for the same share of the market pie! Evidence lies in the way these companies are identified by their ‘industrial belt’ status and not by their name. If you check with your buyers, you will see the truth in this statement. No prizes then for guessing why branding assumes all the more importance in this segment! Every company – small or midsized, has the potential to become a known brand.

You have a good product, a good team, great potential and a global market. What you need is good branding, a solid plan, a sound strategy and a clear road map. Armed with these 4, SMEs can break clutter, create flutter and even take the market by storm. Branding gives you an opportunity to go from a ‘registered vendor’ to a much-in-demand company; it ensures buyers can ‘search’ you, ‘Google’ you from a sea of unknowns. Branding makes you known for what you are – in the country and in the world; it gives you a chance to make an effective statement; it makes you stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Every product, every company – small or midsized, has the potential to become a known brand. It’s all in the mind and more in the branding. If you are inching towards the big picture you have sketched for your company, branding is where you should begin.

All’s well that begins well. Happy Branding!