Nissan Formula 1: Safe driving is great driving.

What's your formula for great and safe driving? 

I have asked my college going son to ping me once he reaches college every day. That's to ensure he is safe and sound. That's also because Indian roads are bad and the way people drive, berserk. However, every time i think about it, i realise that our safety on our roads is in our hands. It is in the way we drive. In the way we think. And in the way we play safe, while driving.

Formula 1: Belt up/Helmet on!

It's not for any other reason that we have seat belt and helmet rule enforcement, except for our safety. The sooner we realize this, the better. But typically, how do we think? We don’t mind being penalized for a 1000 bucks if caught without the seat belt, but we still don't belt up. Human behavior is weird indeed. Does it take a fatal road accident in the family for us to imbibe the gravity of belting up? Ask yourself. If the answer is no, then go ahead and belt up.

Formula 2: Don’t lay the red carpet for the Lord of Death. . 

Speeding on an empty road feels good, but speeding on a full road and zigging in and out mindlessly is laying out the red carpet treatment for the Lord of Death. Everything happens in a matter of seconds. The end most definitely does. For those fond of speeding, race on the tracks.  Don’t drive on the roads.

Formula 3: Have a far sight. Practice defensive driving. 

I have seen many car drivers race right up and kissing the bumper of the car ahead and brake hard. Result? Bumps, dents, bends and heart cringing moments. Not to mention fisticuffs right on the road that create traffic jams. All of which is easily avoided, only if you practice defensive driving, like they do abroad in the West. You can gauge from afar what the driver/car in front of you is likely to do. You can 'sense' through your in-built (human) sensor. Use that so that you brake ahead of time and have a safe distance between you and the car ahead. If it is an emergency, follow Formula 1 above.

Formula 4: Go low beam

A low beam is good enough even on poorly lit roads if you drive slowly enough. Just to clear your vision and of the road ahead, flash the high beam for a second to understand the way the road curves or turns or to see the bumps. Then go low again. If you do, the car drive on the opposite side will send blessings your way and you will avoid mishaps. 

Formula 5: Respect the zebra as if you were a pedestrian 

Crossing on our roads for pedestrians is a nightmare. Put yourself in the walking shoes of a pedestrian especially when you are behind the wheel and stop with enough space between your car and the zebra crossing. The roads are not built for cars. Allow some space for the walkers. You will love yourself for it.

We all can be the Formula 5 types when we drive on our roads. It is up to us how fast we go for Formula 5.

The Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., conducts the Nissan Safety Driving Forum (NSDF) in India as part of its safety driving promotion activities. The program began as an annual activity in 2012. In its initial phase it covered three main Indian cities – New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai – and since then has gradually expanded to several additional cities across India.

This year, NSDF would reach 8 new cities – Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Vadodara, Nagpur, Chennai, Mangalore and Kochi. The overall reach and engagement levels have phenomenally grown and NSDF has effectively reached close to 2 lakh citizens. It continues to stay committed to its core objective of promoting safe driving behaviour in India.

Compared to the previous year, NSDF has witnessed an impressive 126% growth in the sensitisation of wearing seatbelts. In addition, NSDF also conducts live simulated experiences to understand how safety features function through a simulated car crash. A 360-degree turn over highlights the use of seatbelts, while sessions on road safety emphasises on road etiquette to stay safe.

Under its Blue Citizenship CSR umbrella, NSDF by Nissan works to build awareness of safe driving in India. NSDF encourages drivers and passengers to wear seatbelts, and participants learn through interactive activities the importance of wearing seatbelts.

Nissan seeks to support reducing fatalities and injuries caused by traffic accidents, and NSDF represents the company's commitment in contributing to young, vibrant and mobile India. https://www.nissan.in/innovation/NSDF.html

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!” 

Digital Marketing Success made simple for SMEs

Enter a hotel lobby, a conference room, an office reception, an airport or even an airplane; chances are you will catch all souls there talking, browsing or playing with their Smartphones or tablets or reading on their Kindle Fires. Phones, tabs and laptops have changed the face of the game of business. Technology rules our lives today-both professional and personal. Digital is big for the biggies as well as the SMEs; like it or not, in business of any kind, digital connections make all the difference.

So where do you begin with your digital endeavor? Your website.

A website is one of the most important elements of a digital branding plan for your company and is usually the starting point. A website is the first thing your buyer will check to assess you, to see what you have to offer, your capabilities, your expertise, your people and your history. If you are absent on the WWW (the World Wide Web) you are missing out on the opportunities that would have come knocking from the country and the world. For your business wishes to come true, you don’t need a genie, you need a well-thought out website that catches your buyer’s interest, keeps him engaged for some time with relevant, mature content and answers your buyer’s unsaid questions. If you are successful in making the buyer call you/reach out to you, you have hit the nail on its head. But a website is just the beginning; you have a long way to go on the digital journey.

The typical digital elements in an SME branding plan

Digital rules the roost in almost every branding plan today, whether B2C or B2B. And no, if you are thinking digital means Facebook, Facebook and more Facebook, nothing could be further from the truth. The digital medium comprises of far more elements than a Facebook. Social Media (Facebook, Linked In, Twitter) is just a part of the digital ecosystem for a brand today. 

Digital typically comprises Social Media, Content Creation and Management, Blogging, Community Building, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Email Marketing. However, the digital world is ever evolving and you are sure to find more elements. For the time being, suffice it to understand these few a little more.

 Social Media: These are social networks (some professional networks, others, social) on the web/Internet typically, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Slideshare, etc.  

     Content Creation and Management: Content in the digital world, is King, Queen and heir. The more you create content (text, audio content, video content, webinars – seminars on the web, freebies), integrate it and manage it well, the more you will rule the World Wide Web for your industry.

·     Blogging: A blog is a web log – a log of ideas, expert information, important information, expressions and thoughts on the web. You can launch a blog of your company/brand for free. A blog being what it is, it helps you create a reputation of an expert in your field over a period of time, provided you regularly write blog posts (articles), at least once a week. Focus, continuity, relevance and sustained efforts will ensure your blog gets you attention from prospects.

·        Community Building: Communities on the WWW are common interest groups. If you know the group which has the characteristics of your target market, you can build this group and create a community. You can create a new group or community yourself. The communities could be for a cause (Save Pune Traffic Movement), an interest (Marketing Masala), a shared-interest community (IT Engineers Group, Retail Community, Ad Women Community, Working Moms  and so on and so forth). By targeting your target market (community), you ensure your marketing efforts reach the right audience.

·        Search Engine Marketing (SEM): This is based on keywords or search words that go into creating small ads. You pay for these ads and the space and search engines like Google, Bing or others, catch the keywords and ‘show’ your ads to your target audience. This way your company and your products get seen by the right people and enhance your marketing efforts.

·       Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Again, a search tool, this is something you get done for your website. SEO specialists or web development agencies and consultants can help you optimize your website and web presence to ensure effective marketing.

·     Email Marketing: Post the death of the snail mail – the old way of posting letters, email marketing is the quickest and a cost effective way of reaching your target market. However, this tool is prone to inefficiencies, as it resorts to bulk marketing and hence may lead to wastage of efforts and resources. With a proper email marketing strategy however, far better results can be achieved. There are specialist agencies which do this kind of work, but the best way is to go through your digital consultant/agency’s advice and see how important this is in the scheme of your digital plan.

Digital is not free. It involves costs.  

Contrary to what most of us tend to think, digital is not free in the true sense. Oh yes, you don’t have to pay a dime to open a Facebook account or a business page, or even a Twitter, LinkedIn,  Slideshare or You Tube account; but to market your services and products effectively, you have to budget it separately. All these platforms have a paid ad option, where you need to pay for the ad space and the ad creation. If you get the platform right and the content right, there’s no stopping buyers from reaching out to you. Consider ‘digital’ as an investment and not an expense, and you will start enjoying the results.

Are you ready to take the digital plunge?

Digital is an alien world for many of us, fret not. The word ‘digital’ tends to push your marketing team out of its comfort zone; so resistance is inevitable; but nothing which cannot be overcome with a bit of planning, learning and persistence. To date, marketing collaterals meant printed brochures, leaflets, catalogues, press ads, magazine ads; at the most, it meant product films and corporate films and even exhibition stall designs. From there when you are suddenly thrown into a virtual world with PowerPoints, Social Media, Content Marketing towering over you, jitters are normal. But getting a handle on those is also imperative – easily achieved when you talk to the right agencies/digital agencies/consultants and get the right marketing team on board. 

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!

“Kuch jamaa nahi!”  

Ask any creative true to his creative religion and see how he reacts to this line “Kuch jamaa nahi, options nahi hai kay?”

I bet he/she would be short of tearing out his/her hair in frustration and turning red in the face with the mercury climbing higher and higher and then like a punctured balloon, the climbing temperature would suddenly dissipate in resignation – because this is a line that is as old as the hills and that he has been hearing since he was initiated into this unfathomable profession of advertising, branding and creativity. 

So what does this line really mean? In client parlance, it means,” I don’t know what to make of this” OR “I can’t tell if this fits our brief/brand/product/industry” OR “ I don’t understand this” OR “I don’t know if boss will like it” OR “ I don’t like it” OR simply, “I am paying you through my nose for this so you bloody well work more”. 

Phew!

Whatever it means, one has to slink back quietly to one’s pad and start chewing the weathered tip of the chewed pencil and start staring into nothingness again, hoping that something will strike or fall from the skies, an option that will make the client say “Jamaa!”

 

Reading between the lines though, I would like to believe that as creatives we are really working for two clients– one is the target audience and the second is our client or rather, the first is the client and the second is the target audience/customer.

Since the client is the decision maker of whether your idea/name/logo will hold well, he is your primary audience. He comes with his own likes and pet peeves, whims and fancies and moods; which projects and latches onto his decision. So, if by sheer misfortune, he is in a foul mood and has fought with his missus in the morning, God help your idea! For whatever it is worth, it is not going to clear his mahogany table and is most likely to land squarely in his already overloaded trash can. 

And if he, by God’s grace is in a good mood, then even your wishy-washy idea may pass his knife without getting royally butchered! So what if he asks you to marry option I and option II and come with a legally produced baby –option 3!!! 

The point is that your idea/ad/campaign/name/logo has to first ‘connect’ with your client and later with the brand’s official target audience/customer.  And that is the bitter truth. 

From that POV, your client becomes your primary target audience and the official TA, your secondary TA.  Decide who are you really working for m’friend -The client or his customer?

“ Kuch jamaa?!”

Like a little known girl to the Cinderella of Pune West
Bavdhan in the wish-list of the rich.

Five years back, Bavdhan was unheard of as a dream destination for home buyers in Pune. The only place people spoke about was Chandani Chowk the hangout/eatout/outing. People travelled to this chowk or square on weekends in hordes, on bikes and cars to spend a magical evening under a starlit canopy of the dark blue night sky. Garden Court and Banjara Hills were the restaurants one would go to, if you were looking for an alternative to KP (Koregaon Park).

Today, Bavdhan has climbed up the charts to be among the top few bestsellers on the wanna-have list of home buyers. It did, earlier, face stiff competition from the likes of an Aundh and a Baner, which managed to win the cream of the lot for its proximity to the Hinjewadi IT Park. But as these places started getting crowded, people started eyeing Bavdhan with increased interest.

Placed at the junction of the Express Highway, the Pirangut road, the wide, smooth, uncrowded NDA-Pashan Road and Paud Road leading you to the city, Bavdhan is fast gaining popularity as
the preferred residential destination.

On one side the undulating greens of the lush hills and on the other the urbane glitz of the high rises, Bavdhan is tempting a diverse populace. While it is becoming the abode of choice for Gen Y – the IT nouveau rich, it is also a second home, to those who are moving to a larger house from Kothrud and Aundh. What is however defining Bavdhan’s status in the property market is the fancy it has caught with the premium class of buyers- Mumbaiities, NRIs and expats, both investors and residents.

There is something about this place that is on the fringes of Pune city, a natural charm that keeps the rush hour out of your hair and allows you to revel in the dawn of bird songs, while making it possible to zip to a Mumbai in less than 3 hours flat; it’s like having your cake and eating it too. Nestled amidst three hills on its south, east and west and the scenic Pashan Lake in the north, Bavdhan has witnessed gradual growth in the form of planned development. It is strategically located on NDA Road, the centre of Aundh and Kothrud - both well-developed suburbs.

A quick drive in the still-green avenues reveals a smattering of yuppie brands that have set up shop here – Dominoes, Smoking Joes, Naturals Ice Cream, Café Chokolade, More, Reliance and more in the pipeline including Big Bazaar. The increasing fine dining restaurants like Ambrosia, Oasis, Bohemian, Up and Above, Trikaya, Nebula have people spoilt for choice. All schools, locals and international schools and colleges right from a Symbiosis to a Sanskriti, to the Mahindra World Business School are within a radius of 10 km, with buses plying to the door step. Commercial and industrial areas like the Hinjewadi IT and Biotech Park, Pirangut

Industrial Area, Pimpri Chinchwad MIDC are at a comfortable driving distance. Daily essentials from groceries to hospitals serve the area well. People are shifting to Bavdhan from Baner Road, Aundh and Kothrud, because of better living.

Bavdhan has witnessed an increase in residential values in the Jan-Mar 2012 quarter compared to the previous quarter. The current per square feet rate at Bavdhan ranges from INR 4,700 to 5,100.

Little wonder then that Bavdhan has a spread of premium properties from every known builder of the city.

isleroyale by Gera offers bungalows from 3400 to 5700 sq. ft. priced between INR 2 crore and 4 crore for the privileged few. http://www.gera.in/dubai_campiagn/dubai_campaign.html

Selva Ridge http://www.marvelrealtors.com/offerings-res-ong-Selva.aspx from Marvel Realtors, a gated community spread across 22 acres comes attached with a 10- acre forest reserve. With the forest reserve and open spaces covering 92% of the property, Marvel Selva Ridge Estate offers a refreshing break from the concrete jungle.

Gloria from Paranjape Builders http://www.pscl.in/real_estate/Project/Pune/Gloria/overview is another premium project vying for a share of the property market pie. The Paranjape legacy combines with ultra-modern design and Gloria takes shape.

Iris from SKYi is a departure from convention in the brick and mortar category. Iris is a home that gives you a feeling of space of light, wind, ether, all the five elements. When you know that you are living in a home that gives you all this, rest assured that it’s an i-home. Like the one you have at Iris, Bavdhan. http://www.skyi.com/ihome-concept.htm

These homes come for a price but are worth every penny spent for the lavishness they bestow on their residents. Penthouses, private infinity pools, private forest reserves, you wish it and it’s there.

With so much to offer on a platter, Bavdhan is upping its ante for certain. And while it may not have reached to the stature of its Eastern cousin KP, it is slowly and steadily getting there. Bavdhan in the near years to come is definitely going to be a residential destination to write home about.