How to put your price down

Do you feel a pang in your heart when you over charge your offer?

This article came across which talks about the view in a digital photography context.

Imagine you wear a pair of boots which costs you Rs.15,000/-. These pair must not have cost more than a few hundred rupees to make.

1. Value – You do not pay the price for the product – you pay the price for the value the product represents. Another person who has the same pair of boots immediately connects with you because of the value.

2. Feeling – What came into you when you saw your first bicycle? What did that seat tell you? What did the treading on the tyre convey? Does your product compare to that feeling?

The traditional view talks about cost price and a sales price. Am I making x% profit? Instead, you could price it the other way around. Fix a number for the price tag on the product. Work backwords till you reach your Cost Price.

Bondsurance – viral video – Bond, Hema Malini, bad ass bike and unshaven villains

A new viral has come out for IDBI Bonds. This one comes from Contests2win.

The idea is pretty cool. The execution is neat and very Bombay.

Yet, is viral the real way?
Could bonds be sold though humour?

1. Bonds are known for their less return and serious target audience. One may laugh at the ad, think about the hawaldar joke and then move on. Good from an awareness perspective. (We have the coconut dealer with the thick Tamil accent talking about the returns and riches at the end).

2. Ideal solution for selling products which require more thought and research from the audience should be some other form of advertising rather than a viral. Makemytrip virals by Webchutney have clicked as buying air tickets involves opening a few tabs and then booking it. FTW! FTW!

3. Looking at the viral from the contests2win perspective, this is a complete win. They get the eyeballs, they get the creative appreciation and maybe a few awards to put up as testimonials for their competence. However, as an ad agency, they should really look for other means of selling the bonds. Get down to the basics – get more people to buy their client’s stuff.

Awesome effort though. Guess its time to move on from Tamil accent bashing. It ceases to be funny after 25 years!

Full power branding – Valisere

Check out www.valisere.com

Valisere home page

Valisere is a lingerie brand. The website gives the user the actual feel of what to expect from the brand. Simplistic approach with enormous focus on the visual imagery does a great job here. No confusing navigation, no “click here and wait there” philiosophy, no bull!

Absolutely in love with the guys behind this site. Could take a lesson or two from Valisere. And the girls are too beautiful. Wallpaper enthusiasts could have a trip too.

Mall Culture and Freedom Struggle

I happened to do some slow walking through infinity mall at Andheri, Bombay. The results are pretty striking I should say.

Step 1 was just the process of walking in the mall. The security who is supposed to check for bombs and such scary stuff looked unprepared for an emergency. One wave of the magic wand (the sensor thing) and “Welcome Sir!” I looked easy and patient to be checked. He liked it!

One thing to be very clear in a mall. No one ever looks patient and easy at the mall entrance. It sucks to be checked by a very ugly looking guy when you decide to take a look at the good life at the mall. One person who would be happy to take it very slow at the mall would be the one who is destroying it. One very good look for the “Before / After” imagery!

Now that I am in the mall, I see a lot of wicked laughter. People in malls never frown. They smile, they hold hands and openly look around – with or without the jaws dropping.

A jewellery shop right at the entrance and four ugly looking Policemen just outside the store. If the policemen are here to catch people who do wrong as my mother said, I am scared. I don’t need to spend my hard earned money on some designer jewellery. I prefer love instead. Wasting money is wrong. The policemen inside the mall are an eye-sour. They belong to the streets – not to my materialistic and capilatistic symbolism – the big ass mall!.

Give it a good look. Any mall would have two maybe three floors of shopping space. The mall building however would stand atleast seven stories tall. Four floors of empty space. This gives it a larger than life persona.

Right on your face huge ass banners taller than the three floors of shopping space is a good idea. People are bound to read it. I would make a 3 + 2 = 5 floor tall banner. Taller than that is not that effective. Add the air conditioning and the good life lighting to improve our ad visibility.

“Shop for obscene amount of money on my credit card for a 5% discount”.

I love discounts. Makes me feel smarter. I know where I got this thing which looks rich even though I don’t earn much to get it. A 5% discount. HA HA! Infinity mall makes me happy and elated about life. Maybe among all the good things that is available here, I may meet my future wife too – shopping at Lifestyle. How romantic! One more good thing to add to my interesting set of things that I possess.

Oh! exclusivity? From Infinity mall – where a whole civilzation “hangs out” – is that important? There would be another SEC A Good college educated earning huge money cool young man with a pretty similar lifestyle and materialistic possessions as mine – Levi’s jeans, Pepe shirts, Fossil Watch, Jovan Musk Cologne, Nike Shoes, Adidas socks and a fucking mickey mouse bed sheet you get for cheap.

There were girls playing with a video camera and people posing in front of those cameras saying how cool they feel about coming to infinity mall. I should also ask for permission from the mall authorities to play a small prank. I would ask people if they would like to hug me for free! This, by the way, is not an original idea. It is from a music video I saw a few years back while having a mug of steaming cup of coffee that my Amma made me! I used to watch a lot of music videos. They are full of materialistic life too. A chick, a car, good furniture – cool ones, and people loving you for showing them these things and how they make you feel good!

The ground floor did not interest me much. There were a few girls only stores tucked neatly under the escalators at the mall. I saw them for the first time yesterday. I swear I never bothered about them. That is the trick here. The malls know the Nike trotting, Fossil timed, Levi Jeans SEC A good college educated Indian male does not go to girls’ store or near them. Its an ego thing you know!

Girls hang around there for a long time away from the gazes of “these male eyes”. You can get in only with your girl pals. Not with your boyfriend. Girls tend to be themselves here. A little bitchy, a little true and a little cruel. The pretty little things in these girl stores should prepare them for more bitchiness, cruelty and truth.

The girl stores made me weak and hurt my ego. Had to ignore them as a sign of respect for all the indian men who left it to their women – a public sanctuary. I leave it to the deserved ones.

The boyfriends and girlfriends can come to the infinity mall for some “no privacy” trip. I compeltely support PDA. I love to love women when things around me shows me and tells me “Life is good. Look at the NEW all around”. Kudos to infinity mall for promoting the beautiful idea of Public Display of Affection. It is affection after all – the ultimate truth of animalkind.

All malls need to have escalators. They don’t mind you walking away to death. But, no climbing stairs. And like Google, bigger spends do not guarantee best results. So like the jewellery store which gets a lot of crowd, there are other stores on other floors which gets good crowds. Malls are all about visibilty – infinity mall included.

The escalator takes you slowly upwards while giving you all excuse to stare at the beautiful bottoms and feel nice about it. No one minds it. All of them are staring bottoms – the mall escalators have a rather steep slope compared to airports. No one watches bottoms when travelling far in little time. They are all looking up at the sky most of the time. Even signboards at airports are rather tall. You need to look up to read them. SeCURITY CHeCK;.

The bottoms make me happy. I smile at times too. No one questions your smile at Infinity mall – afterall it is a happy place. The bottoms slowly disperse away at the end of the escalator giving way to a huge advertisement

“50% off on all kinds of juices. Big Bazaar welcomes you”

Well, I am not a juice person. Yet, I should just check it out. Don’t ask me why.

“Welcome sir!”

Whoosh – the door opens. Big Bazaar has its entry scene sorted out in a big way.

“Mumbai food fest! Anything cost you just Rs. 5″

I need a Vada pav.
Me – a mini sandwhich.
Pani puri

etc.

etc.

etc.

Junk food – not me. I am on a ghar ka khana trip. Good for me. I just need to walk in.

Perfumes!

“Good evening sir. Would you like to test something?”

“No dude! I am not buying. Do not waste your time. I am only looking at the deos.”

Rs. 149 – Oh I know them – Deo – Axe / Brut / other cheap ass deos
Rs. 199 – Mild / Strong / Lemony / Water based
Rs. 299 – Cologne / French names / Getting scared a little
Rs. 399 – I was blind to these brands / Beautiful glass bottles which may break if not careful
Rs. 499 – Beautiful perfumes … Oh they are cool … I should look more at these things in the future…… I could smell better now. The whole world smells of Axe…..

Female voice! “Sir – would you like to try something on?”

Smile!

Fades smile! Serious look!

There are basically five kinds of moods in a mall.

1. I am interested (very rare – salesmen should smell this mood)
2. I am busy (I like it. I don’t have money and I am not admitting it)
3. I need to leave (Its too much now. The crowd, the traffic, the boss, the life – all sucks)
4. I am a pretty bee (I am here. I will be here. I just like it here. I am so much a BEE)
5. FUCK YOU! (Insanity. Cruelty. Cannibalism. The prices here are obsene. 3000 rupees for a fucking t-shirt?)

“I am not buying. I am only looking at them. Please show me this one here. Yes, the beautiful blue bottle with French written on it”

“This is a mild minty smell. It intensifies your natural smell and makes you superior. I ll put some on your hand, wave and BLOW a cool air in a very non classy way that would make you hate me for on your hand”

I take a smell – Minty. Yes. I like it like that.

Plates, spoons, buckets, soaps, towels, pillow covers, bed sheets – the signs of a happy home. You can buy them here.

“VENGA BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN.
We like to party.
We like
we like
we like to party.
VENGA BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN.”

Happy tunes in the mall. I was wondering what made me so perfume and bucket friendly at Big bazzar. The happy tunes are making me stupid and buy these things here. Make me feel full again.

“We have ICICI credit card for you. Sign up and you get 1 Kg of sugar free for free”

A few more stores mostly clothes and more clothes. Brands, labels and Price tags. Measuring you with the money power.

An ego battle.

Minus 2000? Minus 5000? Minus 15000?

What defines you. How much can you take? A big minus on your bank account should not hurt you much. Well, you walk out smelling better, looking better and socially superior to the ones who does not possess the beautiful blue perfume bottle.

Are we still facing slavery? On a micro scale? Slavery from your bank accounts, your malls, beautiful french blue perfume? La belle Dame sans merci? Freedom struggle starts at home this time. I know it already. What? We are Slaves!!!

Step inside your home. Start your struggle for freedom.

Starts with two words.

CHILL OUT!

Killed it! (Seth Godin style)

Seth Godin seems to get the basics right. Damn right – that too in a few words.

Below is a snap shot of what he thinks of advertising, branding, sales and marketing.

“If you don’t want spam in your inbox, never respond, never buy anything. Not even if it’s a good deal.

If you don’t like TV commercials featuring loud aggressive announcers, don’t buy what they’re selling. Ever.

If you don’t want people ringing your door asking for donations, don’t give, no matter what.

If you think politics is too nasty and not focused enough on creating value, then don’t donate to a candidate that’s nasty, even if you agree (and even better, call or write and tell them why).

If you don’t like bait and switch marketing, where promises don’t match the product, don’t buy it.

If you don’t like snarky, angry blogs, don’t read them.

If you deplore the lousy service at big chains or certain airlines, don’t shop there, even if it’s cheaper.

There’s a new asymmetry, with loud consumers able to connect and actually have an impact.

We’re all hypocrites, and we get what we pay for. The market is astonishingly quick at responding to what consumers do (and incredibly slow at reacting to what we say).”

All cheers to the great Seth

How to crack the million dollar dot coms!!!

It is completely on the back end!

Keep an eye on the serial businesses that run these days. I would stick to my focus on the online field. Assume that it is natural to extrapolate this hypothesis into the offline (“mainline” if you would like to call it that way) field too.

For instance take a look at People Interactive, Info Edge and Consim Info.

The deal looks massive. Auto, Matrimony, Jobs, Real Estate etc. Reach is the holy idea here. The wants are plenty and so are the solutions.

Now how do they crack it?

Statuary Warning: I am not an expert. Yet I comment. Thank you BLOGS!!!

1. Listings – Get your listings out no matter what. Get the database of people who wish to get married in a year’s time. Get the list of people who would like to rent out or sell their houses. Get the list of people who wish to buy these houses or take them for rent. Get a list of the folks who wish to buy / sell a vehicle. Get a list of people who wish to hire / get hired. Get a list of this, get a list of that.

The common factor – listings. In bulk. The more the merrier.

2. Sales – Massive sales in the online and offline spaces. Should be reading this as SEM, PPC, Contextual advertising, Display ads, Social Media Optimization and sales personnel pursuing other people for the listings. Print, TV and other mainline forms of advertising is a must here. We are not targeting the power users here. It is more of an “Email + Job site + Matrimonial site” formula for the masses.

3. UI – Create a massive appeal UI. UI sells. The message on your homepage sells. You could have the best of listings, the most consistent and rigorous quality checks ever, the fastest servers and all that jazz. But if it does not look good, I am not interested!

4. Back end! Back end! – The listings which should throw up with the best of algorithms possible. Get your keywords done properly. I don’t want a flat throwing up in Kolkata when I search for a bungalow in Delhi (that would be the biggest of blunders).

Of all the three, UI is the only thing that is different! Six months max for the most killer UI and front end development can get you the target audience fixed on your site. Make sure you are smart enough with your social media monitoring and other online marketing techniques. Focus on your sales team too. YOu would need your presence out in the market. Fortunately or unfortunately, the “face of the company” concept still seems to hold value. (More about that later)

Get your teams done. One team would look at the listings. Jobs, Matrimony, Flats – all same. Only the approach and type of words used. Another team for the ASP / PHP coding, sales guys who speak similar languages at different places and a killer b-plan for your B!!!

Career Moves and Blues

Just came back to the metro from sleepy home at Trivandrum. Been a funny trip this time home, leaving my parents completely psyched out. Feels guilty and feels like laughing at the whole thing I did there.

Right now standing at a self made milestone. I need to fix things left right and center. Got my reliving letter from my past employer today. One piece of paper and a major waste of money – I had to pay them back for the time I absconded. Felt good in a weird kind of way too. Paying the employers for your absence. Getting paid is an insult in itself – you cant raise money otherwise. Paying them back is equivalent to a tight slap on the face. “You cant keep me. Now you want to keep my money. Go pick up the notes and shove it up some orifice at your posterior and fix it in position using the equipment for keeping the fizz in a champagne bottle” – I have decided to keep this blog neat in terms of language. Not keeping high standards in terms of my choice of words anyways.

Right from the time I took a fascination to stage and being in the limelight somewhere in the fresher year at college, I used to have the idea that Marketing shall be the future. “Dude.. I ll get into marketing man. Its kinda cool. You meet people, you greet people and you trip on people. Fuck! It would be like being in a fest all year long man. Imagine a Ragam, Inci or a Saarang that happens for one full year! That would be something! And the travel – wow!!!” And yes, I did trip on Sales, Marketing and Execution for a good two years and a half. Yes, I did rock at times and sucked most of the times – took solace in the fuck-ups as “learnings”, “stepping stones”, “experience (my ass)” and came across a few rich man symptoms such as bad blood pressure, bad health and low patience. I even went bald and sported grays on my beard! Looks good! Looks cool! This will take me to a nice B-School. Is there anything cooler than getting into a good B-School? Man, the chicks will fall for that (or really??)

A bomb fell last week!

“Kiran, you cant be doing a job which involves people!”

<Silence>

“bulla tulla yalla falla” (Loss for words which needs to be uttered! Society demands you to answer comments)

“What is that you need to do in life? Its your career and you are young”

<Silence>

<Silence>

<thinking>

<Silence>

“I need to go home!”