Twitter Updates 04.09.09

Brand Comm thru Cinema still strong in pockets in the country, case of Sumo Victa being promoted in a Bhojpuri Movie http://bit.ly/vWCoh

India is a sachet market, now OTC drugs are also planning to use the same route, http://bit.ly/X45ko

Nokia Music Store India http://bit.ly/SSJyv

Will Dish TV’s tie-ups help? http://bit.ly/3dwBo

More on Tata Tea's "Jaago Re" campaign http://bit.ly/Pi7gG

Tata Ace story, how they have redefined or rather created a new category, http://bit.ly/lKFlI

Kaya Skin Care Clinics Slow and cautious expansionhttp://bit.ly/HRFb7

Hero Honda's "Har Gaon, Har Angan" rural campaign for rural push http://bit.ly/YltwS

RT @futurescape: You might want to have a look at this regard state broadcasters http://bit.ly/4t62Ni

Yum! Restaurants India has aggressive expansion planshttp://bit.ly/3ZGTYm

Festival Season and Cars http://bit.ly/UHZ5f Honda plan to launch festive civic http://bit.ly/rc3Ry

Retail looking up http://bit.ly/kjPx1

Nestles Spoof ads against Cadburys Pay day adshttp://bit.ly/y6cEV

Media planners focus on individual show than channelshttp://bit.ly/R6Fvn & recent study - doordarshan is most watchedhttp://bit.ly/fFRhd

Tata DoCoMo in bid to 'do the new' campaign http://bit.ly/Xr5v8

HUL cutting down on proms http://bit.ly/s85Sw

i had written on ipill on my blog http://bit.ly/8oGwd & now National Creative Director FCB Ulka also wriote on it http://bit.ly/2UZmb

Bata on the reinvention path http://bit.ly/fMEiR wants to become a serious player in institutional markets

More on the Airtel DTH Ad http://bit.ly/2BAMsy

Paid location services still forms a very small part of VAShttp://bit.ly/4wrJ0

India is still a low cost location for many businesses ,http://bit.ly/2t4wVE

Radio Companies on Social Networking sites http://bit.ly/CUmIu

Samsung Star S5230 becomes fastest to touch 5 million sales in 4 months http://tinyurl.com/mtozff

flavors have come full circle, when chips were launched 10yrs back international flavors were rejected,now we can see them making a comeback

Tried Aliva of Frito-Lays and found it be good but a tad expensive at 12/-

New Blog Post : Emergency Contraceptive Pills , are they being marketed too well??? http://rajeshaithal.blogspo...

Harley Davidson bikes be will be available in India from 2010 onwards, price more than Rs 7 lakhs..

RT@emergingfutures:RCom’s blueprint to drive mobile phone in rural market http://bit.ly/Db607 Yes I also think rural India next battleground

According to Tom Peters Design is..an understanding that all the senses were created equal more on this on his blogposthttp://bit.ly/4hwn3d

Rural Telecom in India, Still a long way to go http://bit.ly/Unf3i

Tata Jago Re Campaign gets into fight against corruptionhttp://bit.ly/z6Mfy

Airtel Digital's campaign - bollywood film style http://bit.ly/4zp32P, do read the comments

Chlorophyll story http://tinyurl.com/kkjvzh

Vodafone rebranding http://tinyurl.com/lwll3b

Godrej No1 Story in India http://tinyurl.com/kmc8lx

New blogpost - Regional brands in Indian markethttp://rajeshaithal.blogspo...

Jaipur foot, Indian ingenuity at it's best, http://www.jaipurfoot.org/

V-Guard Story http://bit.ly/aD4Du

Thums Up and the 20 year old campaign still running and giving results http://bit.ly/16tQsi

Mahindra Scorpio the number one SUV in India, http://bit.ly/7c1DH

Twitter Updates 17.08.09

• Africa Rising 900 million consumers http://bit.ly/LeV6s
• Vikram Vetal Method of Training http://bit.ly/ane5i
• Barber Branding in India by Godrej http://bit.ly/Ji9DX
• Bisleri - Mineral water Brand in India http://bit.ly/oZ2R9
• Mahindra Tractors offers Laptops to Tractor Buyershttp://bit.ly/1H78me
• Building Brands Indian style http://bit.ly/1oVQjX
• New Blog Post , Festive Season and the factors dampening ithttp://bit.ly/NoLj5
• Delhi Metro Stations to get Handicraft Shopshttp://tinyurl.com/phmwp4
• RT @rohitbhargava: How To Avoid Being A "Twanker" (The 10 Basic Rules Of Twitter): http://ping.fm/7UcyP
• New mini-discount season in India, http://bit.ly/eaw6r
• @rohitbhargava - Why your brand may WANT to be anti-social online: http://ping.fm/vqmDi
• In India we have many countries within India, South specific strategy works for marketers http://bit.ly/Bo9vk http://bit.ly/Bo9vk
• branded sugarcane juice in India http://bit.ly/ZIddI
• shifting consumer spending patterns in India, http://bit.ly/19q6pG
• Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in his interview on concepts of Neeti and Nyaya to discuss the burning issues of todayhttp://bit.ly/1h8UCN
• Industrial sector growth throws up a surprise, 7.8 % growth in Junehttp://bit.ly/Oirv5
• H1B Visas at one time use to get exhausted in a matter of days if not hours, this year has more than 20k still vacant!!http://bit.ly/weK0D
• RT @alltop Alltop - Top India News http://bit.ly/feIao
• RT @GuyKawasaki: RT @ruchitgarg:Amazingly efficient food delivery system -Mumbai dubbawala http://om.ly/FkZJ Microsoft even used it for mkg
• New Blog Post - Linkage between Indian Market and Monsoonshttp://rajeshaithal.blogspo...
• weak monsoons to dampen FMCG sales in India http://bit.ly/MGlq1
• Brand Building through direct-to-consumer media strategyhttp://tinyurl.com/mwr8fl
• good source of marketing videos, Linstrom http://bit.ly/12zrJJ and Ries Report http://bit.ly/xEPvK
• Kwality Walls Icecream's Indian Strategy http://bit.ly/14SEhJ
• Jyothi Labs into laundry services, http://bit.ly/bMJXd
• Santoor No3 Brand of Soap in India, http://bit.ly/ghUcs
• RT @OPENForum Customer-Centric Design: Got Empathy? : The World : Idea Hub :: American Express OPEN Forumhttp://bit.ly/wWm04
• Slowdown impact on airlines http://tinyurl.com/n5nvhq and retailers strategies http://tinyurl.com/mwhpgd
• Idea telecom's Campaign "walk when you talk"http://tinyurl.com/lb7hgl
• Below the line promos work in rural India, http://tinyurl.com/m9x9ot
• Social Franchising in heath services, for more checkhttp://tinyurl.com/lmz69h
• Consumer perceived benefits of ads low? http://tinyurl.com/nwt2ta
• Liril brand story in India, http://tinyurl.com/m3u3zh

Twitter Updates 28.07.09

• Needs for ads to break the clutter to grab attention http://bit.ly/EgpUn
• Floating Supermarket in kerala http://bit.ly/EoVSu
• Blogs and business schools http://tinyurl.com/nk9xf2
• Airtel Special five offer http://tinyurl.com/ltuq8j, and the logic
• Dabur India and its entry into skincare http://bit.ly/K8TI5
• The IIPM story http://bit.ly/Qc8JN, does not come as a surprise at all
• 30 Great Advertising Professionals to Follow on Twitter http://bit.ly/LV1ay
• RT @tweetmeme Phones outnumber radios among poor in South Asia http://tinyurl.com/mrgkct
• Reading: "Four videos about noise, social and decency" (http://twitthis.com/e8j9re)
• Indian telecom getting gains from their rural forays, http://tinyurl.com/murkyy
• Social Networking in India and its impact on entertainment, http://tinyurl.com/lhwvu2
• Air India and it's branding woes, http://tinyurl.com/nt2ct6
• Rama Bijapurkar http://tinyurl.com/n62am6, has written on understanding Indian Consumers in Today's ET http://tinyurl.com/lao2tf
• Companies finding toon characters much better than celebrities :)) http://tinyurl.com/lpqfwe
• Interesting innovation from a banker turned farmer, check out NET POT on http://tinyurl.com/nvjcpn
• New Blog Post on my blog: Marketing in India abt farmer buying habits http://tinyurl.com/nhfb8r
• Reading M N Srinivas and his work on Indian villages , must read for anyone interested in India, http://tinyurl.com/nvpjdm
• More on Brand endorsement India, http://tinyurl.com/lcweou, http://tinyurl.com/m9tv73 , http://tinyurl.com/lssogg
• who is driving the new Nano's ? http://tinyurl.com/lz6fds
• Indian elderly consumers not attaracted to reverse mortgage has more to do with culture than anything else http://tinyurl.com/ltz7dd
• Microsoft has shown interest in partnering with govt on unique id project, http://tinyurl.com/komvzz
• @imaginingindia last post on his blog :( http://tinyurl.com/lge5sh
• Makeover for Lux and Wheel in the pipeline http://tinyurl.com/mokpkm
• More secure online trasaction could mean lower ecom, http://tinyurl.com/kqs9uk
• Profits , Maruti up 25% http://tinyurl.com/nmhdpy ITC up 17% http://tinyurl.com/ltlawk airtel up 24% http://tinyurl.com/mjok79
• Dadiseth Ex Chairman HUL takes over as Chairman Sony India http://tinyurl.com/mtbxep
• @SDEntrepreneur , reading 9 Advanced Twitter Tips | Tech N' Marketing http://bit.ly/Q387t
• seems a little dated but anyway, reading 'Ten Things you Must Know before Using Twitter' http://tinyurl.com/czkakl
• RT @guykawasaki 10 Tips for creating secure passwords: http://om.ly/?BkLf AC
• check out new free classified services at http://www.olx.in/
• RT@marketingisus David Ogilvy's best advice for business ..http://bit.ly/Nu9b6
• @tweetmeme @smashingmag Reading '50 New Beautiful Blog Designs' http://tinyurl.com/m869nl
• Netbooks in India, http://tinyurl.com/n86dul
• The issue of pack size and the movement towards smaller packs, http://tinyurl.com/l6eemc
• Why Esteem was replaced by Dzire http://tinyurl.com/kv68qu
• Dettol gains mkt share in fragmented soap market, http://tinyurl.com/megh5f, & santoor becomes number one in South http://tinyurl.com/lvujmu
• Debit Card holders to be allowed to withdraw money directly from POS, implications for ATMs and Banks? http://tinyurl.com/mmd9tq
• Mallya uses KIngfisher brand to raise Rs 2,000 cr from SBI!!!!http://tinyurl.com/l7aoah
• Havells - Indian brand transition story from B-B to a consumer brand http://tinyurl.com/mkqcmj
• Pilots caught drunk , inspires a lot of confidence http://tinyurl.com/lkx7kl
• RT @alltop Alltop - Top Sales News http://bit.ly/vLPzQ
• RT@GuyKawasaki Yahoo! Redesigns! Home Page! http://bit.ly/tWjnK
• RT @guykawasaki How to Change the World: The Top Ten Lies of Guy Kawasaki http://ow.ly/eTkG
• RT@TomZiglar A smile is the most powerful social tool we have at our disposal. Zig Ziglar
• New Blog Post : Marketing in India, Are we entering the era of return on marketing investment? http://tinyurl.com/n2l4dq
• RT @guykawasaki 100 funny and unfortunate website naming disasters: http://om.ly/?BFeK AC
• Successful brand launches for 2008, http://tinyurl.com/koa8sv
• Brand Endorsements in India, http://tinyurl.com/mxgxhe
• relationship between rainfall and car sales http://tinyurl.com/ljchjd

Twitter Updates 18.07.09

have shifted most of market updates on to twitter, thought will update some of that to the blog,

• Casio India with its plans about India,http://tinyurl.com/lbwlso
• Restructuring at Godrej grp,http://tinyurl.com/no8747,i... strategy adopted for their not so popular brands, selling thru Futures Grp
• microsegmenting the Indian mobile telecom market,http://tinyurl.com/mo9sqs
• a new post on ries blog on demise of Dell,http://tinyurl.com/mx24a3
• One of the best marketing organizations in the country,http://www.amul.com/
• RT @chrisbrogan Tune Up Your Personal Message | chrisbrogan.comhttp://bit.ly/HRgOh
• RT @guykawasaki Why Twitter isn’t going anywhere: http://om.ly/?tiJ
• had a long chat with an Indian publisher on why It is almost next to impossible to replace Kotler's Marketing text book in India
• Reading: "How to make graphs that work" (http://twitthis.com/i56hgs)
• Google launches voice search in India, http://tinyurl.com/kp8esa
• Nano on the roads today!!! http://tinyurl.com/n2rdau
• RT@bhatnaturally Amul on the Bandra-Worli Sea Linkhttp://bit.ly/BYnvt good one
• KSRTC first to introduce Mercedes Benz buses,http://tinyurl.com/lmto63
• Nilekani and team to give unique numbers not cards,http://tinyurl.com/mfptug
• Indian mythological characters a hit in Indian gaming community,http://tinyurl.com/my4xht
• An observation, Mad Angles from Bingo and nimbooz are all derived from what we are used to consuming traditionally, so back to basics ?
• GuyKawasaki vidoe on art of innovation in 10 stepshttp://tinyurl.com/kl4rp8
• Santosh Desai on Hawai Chappal and its uniquely Indian feel,http://tinyurl.com/ms2bax
• Ginger Hotels a Tata group VFM hotel with Rs 1000 rent is being recast, would be interesting, http://www.gingerhotels.com
• PC sales down in India for the first time, http://tinyurl.com/lfca78
• RT@bhatnaturally 80 creative and well-designed logoshttp://bit.ly/6cO1g, real good ones
• At one end is sales force automation, but one has to see the bundle of papers which a sales person booking order at a chemist carrys
• creativity and coca cola in today's brand equityhttp://tinyurl.com/ndvqmm
• read the post on Duarte's blog http://tinyurl.com/kuzg6n and then the article in nytime, http://tinyurl.com/mvogsg agree it is fantastic
• RT@rohitbhargava , reading the latest post on 6 lessons from best mkg campaigns ever, http://tinyurl.com/m82jbj
• Horlicks and brand extensions, http://tinyurl.com/lnnwzk
• A write-up on ITC's Food Division and how it grown on to become a 2200 crore business in just 8 yrs http://tinyurl.com/lqk6hn
• Fruit bevergae companies experiementing with microsites & other online initiatives, ex http://www.mangoslice.com/
• Arun Maira in ET on delivery of public services,http://tinyurl.com/lrm4w7

Indian Car market morphing ???

Car market in India is going through rapid transformation, though the same can be said about many other sectors of the Indian economy, but then cars tend to attract more attention than others. In the last few months itself we have seen a slew of new launches by manufacturers, and the Indian consumer is spoilt for choice as he has never been before.

I will try to list the number of new cars which have been launched recently , starting with the obvious - Tata Nano which perhaps hogged most of the limelight, but then there were two new ones from Maruti Stable, Ritz and A-Star, and i20 from Hyundai. Honda Jazz and Fiat Grande Punto adding to the list in June. At the super premium end Land Cruiser by Toyota and Land Rover by Tata. One could also add Mahendra Xylo to the list . I personally have never seen these many launches in such a short period of time, so the scene is changing very rapidly, from the era of Ambassadors to Maruti 800 or Alto vs Santro to a more complex world....

One more observation which I have made is the sudden rise in interest among various car manufacturers to come out with alternate fuel (low-cost fuel) versions of various models. The LPG versions of various cars like Santro and Maruti WagonR, 800, spark make sense bu, but now we will soon have the option in premium cars also , like Toyota Corolla, SX4 , Skoda Octavia. Some food for thought on how Indian market differs , in the developed context maybe these would be seen as environment friendly and so on , but here it seen as option to reduce fuel cost.

One can see the various trends and changes in the car industry and obviously this is just the beginning ..............

Market Update 05.02.09

Trying to update what has come in the press on Marketing in India, in the last two weeks

Starting with Economic Times, Brand Equity

Brand LIC and how it has grown in the competitive post-lib scenario, link

Brand Building in Recessionary times, link 

Bharat Nimran Campaign versus India Shinning, link

Salman Khurshid on the campaign , link and Arun Jaitley, link 

Well documented Crossword story, how it has become the largest book retailer in the country and transformed book retail, link

Piyush Pandey on the power of ideas, link 

Unilever is planning to feature it's corporate logo in British and Irish consumer ads, this is something which they have been doing in the Asian markets but not there, raises issues of the plus and minus of such an approach, link 

Business Standarad,  Strategist

Aditya Birla retail and plans for private labels, link 

One more new channel which proposes to be different from other, read the Real story, the new channel which would be up by March from Turner-Midtech, link

Counterfeits in FMCG, link 

Television viewership data, link

Bajaj focuses back on Scooters, link

Business Line Catalyst

Below the line Ads in times of slow down, The use of Dabbawallahs to sell mutual funds, link 

Marketing catching up with Bollywood, link 

Benefits of slowdown, link

Story of the growth of Club Mahindra, link 

Satyam Crisis, link 

More consumer choice, more confusion, Indian Retail also going the same way, link 

Slowdown and marketing, link

Market Update 25.01.09

An attempt to collect interesting bits of information from newspapers and magazines in the last two weeks,

Starting with Business Standard, Strategist

Reliance Mobile third entry into mobile telephony, and associated strategies, link

Q & A with RamCharan on his new book Leadership in the Era of economic Uncertainty, Link

One more story on experience at Harvard Business School, this time from an executive training one though, link

Consumer Confidence survey puts India on top pf the heap, link 

Economic Times Brand Equity

The compartitive ads of complan versus horlicks, has kicked up a debate in the industry as to how far is too far, link

One more article on the issue of competitive ads, link

Impact of using a good creative , case of launch of Virgin Mobile in India, link 

Obama attracting the attention of brands as no other earlier president had ever done, link 

Satyam Crisis and Implications for Indian IT, link 

Interview with Ogilvy's new global CEO, Link 

Hindu Business Line, Catalyst stories

HUL's strategy for skin care brands, link

Collaboration between Funskool and IIT Bombay for Board Games, link 

Customer Interaction Models, link

Other links,

Santoor overtakes Lux in South, link

Rural growth fueling sales of companies, link 

Rural India and Internet, link 

Titan Story, link 

Market Update 6.12.08

A rather long update, because it was long due....

Economic Times Brand Equity covered,
How should Indian Brands react to the slow down, no better time than this for Indian brands to invest in Brand building , more on this, link

Interview with Muktesh Pant of YUM!, sharing his marketing insights from his stints at Unilever, Pepsico and Reebok, link

Logo change by Indian companies, trying to decipher the logic behind why so many Indian companies have opted for a change of logo, link

Slow-down and Ad expenditure, link

Emotions and Branding , link

Buiness Standard Strategist,
The cola war detailed out with the latest on Pepsi Slim Can versus Coke express, link
Dabur acquistion of Fem and the proposed restructuring of the brand management structure, link

Pepsi Versus ITC in the snack market, link

Brand Endorsments the focus shifting more to bollywood from cricket, link

Diageo India story, link

The stories covered in Catalyst over the last few weeks,
The turnaround story of Whirlpool India, the launch of Genius the direct cool refrigerator and problems at attrition, competition and dealer level, more on the story, Link

The latest issue talks about the effort being put by our public sector banks for a makeover, insights from their current campaigns, link

The issue of how brand valuation is ignored in India, link

Harish Bijoor in his regular column answers questions, on slow down and impact on retailing, and issues of re-branding, link

Why oriflame is not worried about recession, interview with the COO of the company, link

FM radio as a ad medium, and how it is coming to age in the country, and the impact of the entry of RAM (Radio Audience Measurment) in increasing accountability, link

I will try and cover marketing stories from business today also, earlier use to be avaialble only to subscribers, now is open access, link

Couple of issues back the cover story was on India's Best Marketers, they have had this regular feature for some years now, and the issue is full of marketing news in India, must read, just a sample from the list of best marketers, Airtel, Axis Bank, Cafe Coffee day, Lalit Modi..... More on the story link