Remember your roots

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of those." 

                             --- George Washington Carver

My cocaine pill

On nippy March evenings, you can also use a little sweat if you can gain fitness. It can brighten the comforting face and savory shape that our chilled bodies still crave. 

Every time I tie my shoe laces, I find myself asking this question. Do I really need to run, jog and slog to get a figure that I always wanted to? Ain't I enough handsome? Why don't I skip the run for today and watch cricket instead? Sipping a can of chilled Coke with popcorn, or grilled chicken can be a cool combination. 

After a long day's work, I am totally strained and drained. Running would just make it worse and my body, sorer! But the satisfaction in sweating makes me have fun. Jogging a few rounds with friends chatting about non-related topics like the new item song, an ad in the paper, new offers online, different kinds of fish and stuff in the park helps me unwind the tension that is built up and cool my senses. I have given up on the iPod as it makes me feel bound, literally. I reach home, take a warm & cold shower; relieved and untoxicated.

Finding a hobby that relaxes my mind, helps me cope with the work pressures is awesome and has made me a better person. All this jogging helps me gorge on the chicken, sweets and whatever I want with ease for longer periods of time.

Jogging is my cocaine pill. What is yours? The warm bright summer is coming. And I am loving it!

Lessons from Cricket

Its things we internalize that become part of us. Part of our lives. Cricket in India runs on such lines. Its embedded into the Indian psyche. As they say, its almost religion. Now the marketing lesson in it is, cricket's become what brands want to be. Brands want consumers to make them part of their lives. Part of their identity. Iconic brands are those that have achieved what's cricket's done. They have wormed their way into consumer lives. So much that consumers draw part of their identity from them. Of course, this doesn't come easy. In fact it materializes only if consumers are willing to connect with brands at a psychological level.

The way cricket has. In India.

Pic is from here & article from BBB.

Eat less yet be full

Ever since I lost 48 lbs with just diet and exercise, I keep getting queries and doubts about what should be eaten and what shouldn't. Eventually they keep coming back to discuss and argue about what they found from someone else. Here is what I suggest you to do. Check if the person you are talking to has lost weight or not. If yes, then you can assume his advice works. Google about the product, check authentic resources to see if the claim is right.

One of the best ways is to keep your diet plan simple and follow-able. This will help you not lose interest and keeps the diet thing exiting. 

 Here are the top three ways to eat less and yet be full.

• Eat disgusting food: Eat the most utterly disgusting food you can find. Can you? Na. I can't. What I do is to keep the salt a little less than normal so that the food would taste simple and bland making me eat lesser food. It would be wise to use less salt. Salt sometimes makes you crave more food and water.  

• Eat your veggies first: Annoy your appetite away with high fiber foods first. Eating your veggies first would kick start food processing in the stomach making you eat less. Eating veggies have many other advantages including essential vitamins, lowers the risk of certain cancers, heart disease and other chronic diseases and conditions. Hate eating vegetables? Who is the strongest cartoon superhero?

• Eat slowly: Worse come to worse, your stomach only has a 30 minute hunger cycle. Even if you are starving, in 30 minutes, you'll lose your appetite and stop eating. I see this happen with most people, especially when you have lunch with friends or colleagues or when you are in a hurry. You forget what your teeth are designed for - Chewing! Chew your food long enough to make it easy for your stomach to digest it. Also chewing your food helps you enjoy what you are eating and saves you from constipation.

Well there are the three ways to start your path to weight loss and good diet. Have a nice day.

Pic is from here.

Monday Blues: Wear your smile

What really makes you smile? You know, the quick, joyful grin, and maybe a chuckle or two, that lights up your face when you do something, see something?

Well, that’s the question, isn't it? What makes you smile?

For me, it’s fleeting and unpredictable. At the moment, it’s the morning sun lighting up the golden rays lighting up. This Monday, keep your smile on. Make sure the people around you smile too. A happy team is a performing team and vice versa.

Happy Monday folks!

Pic is from here.

Monday Blues: Stop the buck

After a lot of travel, I get ready to work today and am reminded it's Monday. The Monday Blues article is pending. I have a lot of mails to be answered and loads of work pending. I can do all that or keep it pending. 

Harry Truman had a wooden plaque on his White House desk which read "the buck stops here". Should you have such a plaque on your desk. Can you hold your responsibility and do a good job? Well, if you are doing it, nothing like it. If you aren't, Monday is a good time to start.

What you shouldn't remember, but you do.

There are a hundred good things you can remember about a person but the ones you remember are all the bad ones. Very few have the capability to remember the good experiences and memories. Years of being good is swept under the mat with just one bad experience. Is that wrong? No. I think the human brain is built to remember what effects you most and this is precisely what you do. No wonder you remember the bad things.

This is the problem with consumers too. You walk past the counter, buy a lot of stuff, sometimes not shopping at all and walk right out without any bad experiences. Sometimes, occasionally a good experience which you chose to smile about and ignore. But there comes a bad experience, a slightly out of the ordinary, may be a tired clerk, salesgirl who fails to understand why you need to check for 10 trails and still not pick one and is a bit restless with you, you jump to the conclusion and talk about consumer rights and all the stuff that puts the poor chap in defense. You call the manager, shout, yell and do everything possible to prove you have a better knowledge of the English language and more elaborate vocabulary and out him in defense too. If the case is going against you, you pool in support from a bunch of similar minded, usually jobless, customers who keep nodding in your support and say you want to report to their CEO about it. This seems funny, most of the times you don't send a mail or call about it. People who have an outlet like blogging will post about it, again in rare circumstances or post as a status in Facebook or tweet about it.

This is even more interesting. The moment you post something bad about a brand or firm, it triggers a churning process of recollection in the reader's brain searching for all the bad experiences they have had or heard from someone else they know and you get a lot of responses.

Why can't the consumer think in a positive way and be calm? Why do you choose to select the few bad experiences you have and make a fuss about it? It is in the consumer psyche like we started with saying you tend to remember experiences you let to effect you more. I am not against reporting insults and bad experiences but am strictly against strutting your ego on someone lower just because you can. The best way is to not allow the bad experiences to effect you. Grow out of it. It will help you more than anything. Applies to relationships too.

The challenge to marketers is to make sure the experience is not just good but delighting. Cut down on the bad experiences and be more flexible. If there is a bad experience, how can you make the customer forget it.

As a consumer think before you start making a scene. The fact that there are around 100 more people shopping comfortably around you and you are the only person having a problem. Let's say you are still right, the statistics say this is a rarity and exception. Should you really spoil the scene just because you can? Just a thought, but worth thinking. 

Picture is from here.

Keep it up, not South!

The first time I walked into Up South, a new restaurant, which opened after a lot of buzz at Jayanagar, Bangalore, I was happy to see well made South Indian dishes at a reasonable price. Here was an air-conditioned option with much better quality and easily available. I remember walking in thinking this is cool. The second thought was when will it get adulterated. Well, it didn't take wrong. With in a month of my first experience I was shocked. The quality remains the same and so does the price. But the problem comes with the size of the offering. The dosas, idlies, poories and wadas have become lilliputian and so small that you find yourself searching for the same in your plate. Innocent or ignorant? I don't know. But the reality is that this is not acceptable and leaves a really bad feeling about the place. The fact that I have recommended this place to many pains me even more. Word of mouth, especially a good one, is hard to get. Don't ruin it.

This is the problem with many brands, be it a product or service. You bend over backwards to impress me and beg me to come and spend my precious dollars in your store and the moment you have a steady line of customers at your door, you tend to take it light. The quality goes down, the smiles disappear and the whole concept of service is swept under the mat. Will the customer stay back? I don't think so. There are a million other options I have to go and spend my money. Also there are numerous doors where I will be treated as a king and I get the value for money as I envision.

Callousness isn't pardonable. Never let it creep into your system or it will eat you inside out. In order to make sure you cash registers keep ringing, you need to keep your quality and service the same. Or the line outside your door is going to get thin.

Try keeping your service as promised and as it should be: Up. 

Monday Blues: Open doors

This Monday be a game changer. Open doors. What kind of doors? Doors leading to?
Open doors to

• Your creativity
• Thinking
• Change
• Movement
• Closets of pending files
• Unreplied mails
• Unsent reports
• Pending appraisals, reviews, feedbacks

Set your week and plan what you should be doing this week and how you are going to reach where you want to.


Picture is from Shania's blog.

Few stats about women

The Week's latest issue has done a nice cover story about women. Here are a few stats... 

• 70% of 1.3 billion people living in poverty around the world are female
• Women do 66% of the world's work & produce 50% of the food but earn 10% of the income & own 1% of the property
• Every 26 minutes a women in India is molested (National Crime Records Bureau)

Lord! Show thy face

Make it count

"Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime. You can spend them slowly, like a tortoise, and live to be two hundred years old, or you can spend them fast like a hummingbird, and live to be two years old."

— from "Joyas Voladoras,*" an essay by Brian Doyle

ps: Brian Doyle, "Joyas Voladoras", originally published in The American Scholar, Autumn 2004 and reprinted in The Best American Spiritual Writing 2005, edited by Philip Zaleski (Houghton Mifflin Co.) 2005, p. 44.

* Joyas voladoras: Spanish for "flying jewels." It's what the first European explorers in the Americas called hummingbirds.

Steve's image is from here.

Monday Blues: Stop squeezing

How much work can you get done in a day? How much can you yourself do? How much are you expecting from your team?


Each member in your team is different. You need to see their capabilities, passion, weaknesses and then decide what to do and how to get the best out of them. It is a one-size-fits-all scenario. Be vigilant, motivating and careful. See what stimulates and motivates a person. It is true that yelling or squeezing stimulates people but they are a minority. You shouldn't use that technique on all and then expect them to perform.


Here is a lesson for all managers: Some people you squeeze them, they focus. Some fold and close. Some break.


This Monday... choose your squeezing wisely lest you break and damage forever. It is very important to keep your team happy.


Pic is from here

The joy in being satisfied

The wealthiest person is a pauper at times, compared to the man with a satisfied mind.

Monday Blues: Being consistent

There's a worm at the bottom of the garden

His name is wiggly wooo and all he can do is

Wiggle all night, wiggle all day

Whatever the folks may say...

Keep digging, learning, moving ahead, despite what people say.

Proud to be an Indian

Have you felt love lately? Pure elation? When was the last time you had goosebumps and the hair on your neck rose? I am very patriotic, to the extent of being called a fanatic. Thanks to Vibhor, got to see this amazing video. Proud to be an Indian.

Who you are...

You needn't be brave to do what you want to do. 

You would be an idiot if you didn't.

Pic

Wake up

I have no idea why I stopped blogging. I definitely have an idea when I would start again. Today. So here is a nice thought to start off. See you guys soon. Thanks for visiting.

Gray mists clothe the lonely valley far beneath.

Soft rays from the rising sun,

Shed light on the glistening, wet, green heath,

Sky and earth and I ------ are one.

1 in 6 wants to change service provider

More than one out of six mobile phone subscribers (17.6%) want to switch over to another telecom company. Given India’s mobile subscriber base of more than 700 million, it could mean that up to 120 million people want to switch. As number portability comes into effect on Thursday, a Hindustan
related stories

* Pay Rs 200 for cellphone number portability: TRAI
* Customer king with number portability

Times-MaRS survey — the first ever on number portability — across eight Indian cities covering 4,564 subscribers between December 15, 2010 and January 15, 2011 shows that Airtel and Vodafone Essar will gain the most.

One out of three consumers who are considering switching want to sign up with Airtel, and one out of five who want to change will go to Vodafone Essar. But only half the subscribers who want to switch are dissatisfied with the service they get.

Read full report here.

Don't be a Broker

Broker seems like a good movie after a long time. Like all good movies, we wish people watch it and come out changed and may be quit being corrupt. Will that happen? I sure wish it will.

Good things are for viewing and not for following. People tell me this is usually a tax saving stunt but at least something is being done. I love the music in this song as well as the message. If you are a movie goer, watch it at least once. I ain't that naive to think anyone would change the way they live by just one movie. But can you take at least one decision this year with the values your parents taught.

Don't text while driving!

Watch this video, pass it on to all your friends. So touching and naked.

Shouldn't we follow it?

Courtesy: FFO

Crazy Love

Van Morrison sings on my iPod... Love the song.

I can hear her heartbeat from a thousand miles.

And the heaven's open every time she smiles.

And when I come to her, that's where I belong.

Yeah, I run into her like a river song.

She give me love, love, love, love: Crazy Love

She give me love, love, love, love: Crazy Love

She's got a fine sense of humour when I'm feeling lowdown.

And when I come to her when the sun goes down:

Take away my sorrow, take away my grief,

Take away my heartache in the night like a theif.

She give me love, love, love, love: Crazy Love

She give me love, love, love, love: Crazy Love

And I need her in the daytime.

And I want her in the night.

And I long to throw my arms around her:

Kiss and hug her, kiss and hug her tight.

And when I'm returning from so far away,

She give me some sweet loving – brighten up my day.

And she make me righteous, and she make me whole,

And she make me mellow way down in my soul.

She give me love, love, love, love: Crazy Love

She give me love, love, love, love: Crazy Love

Consumer Psyche: Welcome!

Here is a poster I designed for the Feed an orphan initiative for Consumer Psyche on Facebook.

Beauty Care Market India

Virginia Lee, Senior Research Analyst at Euromonitor International, gives a detailed overview of the beauty and personal care industry in India. Lee explains that by 2050, India is expected to become the most populous country in the world with a population of 1.75 billion. India's economy has been boosted by:

• Strong foreign direct investment
• Rising urbanization
• Rising incomes

However, India also faces its fair share of challenges: 

• Poor infrastructure
• Limits on foreign investment
• Weak educational system

India's beauty and personal care industry is steadily growing, with a period growth of 12% in 2009, much higher than the overall global industry which was 4% in 2009. Due to lower income levels, Indian consumers are spending more on basics in beauty and personal care, such as: 

• Bar soap
• Oral care products 

India's beauty and personal care market is expected to grow by 50% from 2009-2014. This is due to:

• Rising affluence
• Greater awareness of personal image & hygiene

Talent or team?

Michael Jordon, the iconic basketball player says... "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships".

I agree to an extent. It is necessary to depend on talent and the team together. Each individual should be able to delve into his/her experience and pool of individual talent to be of use at a certain part of the whole process.

Blessed is a manager who has the resources (s)he can count on in times of need. Though I support this view of the team supporting and winning championships together, I also believe that it is important to have few aces to shoot those crucial baskets needed to have things change. When you have aces like that, don't let them fight the whole battle for you. Coaches have done this in far too many games and army generals have done this in battlefields. The war is the championship but the decisive strikes and kills come from few aces who are the heros and rule the day. They deserve much more than the team-like treatment, a cult like status, a hero like worship. This is more of a responsibility than a title, but a well deserved one at that. So if you are planning your team, ensure you have those aces in place.

Unleash your limits

Worth your time. Love the cricket rewind.

What costs?

The three biggest expenses of most endeavors (the energy to make it, the people who create it and the marketing that spreads the idea).

Are You in Danger of Burning Out?

Got this as a forward.

If you feel that you are in danger of burning out, the suggestions below can help you correct the situation:

• Re-evaluate your goals and prioritize them
• Evaluate the demands placed on you and see how they fit in with your goals
• Identify your ability to comfortably meet these demands.
• If people demand too much emotional energy, become more unapproachable and less sympathetic. Involve other people in a supportive role. Acknowledge your own humanity: remember that you have a right to pleasure and a right to relaxation
• Learn stress management skills
• Identify stressors in your life, such as work, or family. Get the support of your friends, family and even counseling in reducing stress
• Develop alternative activities such as a relaxing hobby to take your mind off problems
• Ensure that you are following a healthy lifestyle:

1. Get adequate sleep and rest to maintain your energy levels
2. Ensure that you are eating a healthy, balanced diet—bad diet can make you ill or feel bad. Limit your caffeine and alcohol intake
3. Try to recognize your spiritual needs that may have been buried under the mires of worldly pursuits

Got a blog?

Get one. Now.

Monday Blues: Choose well

Few days back Sarah sent me this for Monday Blues.

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In those choices lie our growth and our happiness." – Stephen Covey, The 8th Habit

You must have read this already, spoke about it too. The best part is no one waits at choice. The choice is a chasm, a very deep one at that. People just skip the chasm & jump to response. It makes a lot of difference to lot of people. I won't tell you to meditate on your choice and wait before you make it, as I expect you to do it by default. I want you to be responsible and stay committed to your response and its outcome. Leaders make sure their choice is well thought of and ensure it ends well. These choices make your future, make you a better person, make you happy and earn your respect. This Monday, choose well!

Pic courtesy: Stumble upon.

Google Saree

Satya Pauls's creation. Guess Google is dominating our lives most of the time. Pic is from here.

Push mediocrity

Here is why you should question if your professor isn't up to the mark. Seth's post on Pushing back on mediocre professors


College costs a fortune. It takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of money.


When a professor assigns you to send a blogger a list of vague and inane interview questions ("1. How did you get started in this field? 2. What type of training (education) does this field require? 3. What do you like best about your job? 4. what do you like least about your job?") I think you have an obligation to say, "Sir, I'm going to be in debt for ten years because of this degree. Perhaps you could give us an assignment that actually pushes us to solve interesting problems, overcome our fear or learn something that I could learn in no other way..."


When a professor spends hours in class going over concepts that are clearly covered in the textbook, I think you have an obligation to repeat the part about the debt and say, "perhaps you could assign this as homework and we could have an actual conversation in class..."


When you discover that one class after another has so many people in a giant room watching a tenured professor far far in the distance, perhaps you could mention the debt part to the dean and ask if the class could be on video so you could spend your money on interactions that actually changed your life.


The vast majority of email I get from college students is filled with disgust, disdain and frustration at how backwards the system is. Professors who neither read nor write blogs or current books in their field. Professors who rely on marketing textbooks that are advertising-based, despite the fact that virtually no professional marketers build their careers solely around advertising any longer. And most of all, about professors who treat new ideas or innovative ways of teaching with contempt.


"This is costing me a fortune, prof! Push us! Push yourself!"

Put a shark in there

Got this as a forward in year 2k and makes a great lesson.

The Japanese have a great liking for fresh fish. But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So, to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring back the fish. The longer it took them to bring back the fish, the staler they grew. The fish were not fresh and the Japanese did not like the taste. To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen fish. And they did not like the taste of frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price. So, fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little hashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive.

Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste. The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish. The fishing industry faced an impending crisis! But today, it has got over that crisis and has emerged as one of the most important trades in that country! How did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? How do they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan?

To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks. But now they add a small shark to each tank. The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. The fish are challenged and hence are constantly on the move. And they survive and arrive in a healthy state! They command a higher price and are most sought-after. The challenge they face keeps them fresh!

Humans are no different. L. Ron Hubbard observed in the early 1950’s: “Man thrives, oddly enough, only in the presence of a challenging environment.” George Bernard Shaw said: “Satisfaction is death!”

Human behaviour

"Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them--if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry."

                ---- J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

The psychology behind Off-by-one pricing

A common practice among retailers is to price products at 199 or 999 instead of rounding the price up to 200 or 1,000. Cognitive psychologists often refer to this as the left-digit effect and it is the one of most prevalent pricing strategies in the world.

Aleem Bawany explains the psychology behind off-by-one pricing here.

Indian Design Trends

Indian design - be it in films, furniture or accessories - may be high on style, but it is drifting away from its rich heritage in the zeal to imitate global trends, says Design Indaba, the design bible that has launched a collector's issue on India.

The magazine, published by Interactive Africa from South Africa, was launched in 2001.

"Designers in India should hunt for new aesthetic idioms from within the country's rich heritage. After independence, we lost the old aesthetic awareness because of lack of government support," said Ravi Naidoo, founder and managing editor of Interactive Africa.

"Design talent abounds in India but lack of design education in the country puts them at a disadvantage when compared to the rest of the world. We do not have art schools in the country which have global standards."

Read more: Indian design moving way from heritage - The Times of India

Non violent mission

Here is the first reference to a non-violent struggle which influenced Gandhi.

The Masque of Anarchy by Shelly

"Stand ye calm and resolute,

Like a forest close and mute,

With folded arms and looks which are

Weapons of unvanquished war.

And if then the tyrants dare,

Let them ride among you there,

Slash, and stab, and maim and hew,

What they like, that let them do.

With folded arms and steady eyes,

And little fear, and less surprise

Look upon them as they slay

Till their rage has died away

Then they will return with shame

To the place from which they came,

And the blood thus shed will speak

In hot blushes on their cheek.

Rise like Lions after slumber

In unvanquishable number,

Shake your chains to earth like dew

Which in sleep had fallen on you-

Ye are many — they are few" [1]

Better than original

Ever felt that your talent is not being utilized and felt you can do a better job? See what Thomas did. He had a crazy idea when watching the trailer of Clash of the Titans and mixed scenes from the Telugu hit Magadheera and the result is as you see above. Guess what happened? His video got picked up by Allu Sirish and he got an invite to synergize. One of the advantages of the new technologies and reduced distances. Showcase your talent in someway and you never know what can happen.

The Last Interaction

Last week I happened to watch parts of Once upon a time in Mumbai. Ajay Devgan wants to gift something to Kangana and buys one Amrud for 400 against a price of 0.40.

The logic used is what if this is the last piece with you? The price goes up to 4. What if this is the last piece in Mumbai? The price goes up to 40 bucks. What if this is the last piece on the planet? The price goes up to 400 bucks.

There is a lesson in sales. Every sale you make is different if you have a choice of making another sale. Every interaction is different when you know there is another chance. If you know there is another chance to impress, sell, convince, win over then your effort isn't as heartful.

When you know this is the last chance, the last opportunity, your approach, passion is very different. When closing a sale or interaction, either business or personal, just pause and think if you would want to be remembered like this? It takes your attitude to another level. A level where leaders operate. That's the stuff you should be doing, aiming at. Try and see. Your success rate goes North. Each interaction would be awesome.

UnKind Joy!

Parents crib when they hear their child ask for 'Kinder Joy'. 'It is not worth the price we pay but what to do?' Prema said when I smiled looking at her pay 35 bucks grudgingly. The little girl was in her own world ripping open the chocolate. I wonder what makes the kid love the chocolate so much.

It tastes Choo good you know! She says without flinching a bit or taking her gaze off her chocolate. Prema & Dristi are my co-passengers on the way to Vijayawada.

I am more interested in the kid's loyalty for the brand. Drishti is in UKG and already has a collection of toys from all the recognizable brands. She recollects all her toys and who got them for her. Her US aunt had promised her a new toy when she would come for Diwali this year.

The marketing presence of the brand isn't too much either. There is comparatively lesser number of advertisements and promos but the in-store presence or Orchard Marketing, is very high. The color of the stand and the way the product is shaped makes a lot of difference in catching the eye.

Within a few minutes we get to be good friends and Drishti tells me about her collection of Kinder Joy toys and how they exchange if they get similar ones. Forget the taste and the toy, it is the sense of ownership and branding that excites her. That's where Kinder Joy scores much to the discomfort of the parents. That's smart.

The buying brain

Your brain -- and your customers’ – is 100,000 years old. Its basic skills and functions are the same ones it developed to survive on the plains of Africa so many millennia ago. As such, the “modern” brain is occasionally at odds with 21st century life.

As it navigates through that life, your brain is like an iceberg. Most of its decisions occur below the water line. Your conscious mind contributes to making only about 5% of your decisions. The subconscious mind makes the other 95%.

For most of our evolution, gathering food and fuel have been primary objectives. That’s partly why shopping is, at its heart, a primal activity. Here are some examples of how the subconscious mind functions when shopping.

1) Your brain gets scared in some stores. Your conscious mind doesn’t know it, of course, but your subconscious mind views sharp corners as a threat. Every time you push a shopping cart around the end of an aisle, your subconscious mind winces. The cringe dates back to the earliest days of the modern brain, when humans still roamed the Serenghetti. Think about it: you don’t see many sharp angles in nature. When your subconscious mind comes across straight lines and sharp angles, it’s hard-wired to perceive them as a threat and prompts you to avoid them. Smart retailers will learn to curve and soften their sharp corners better to invite the buying brain in.

2) Too much of one thing can make your brain go blind. “Repetition blindness” sets in when we see too many of the same objects. Think about a wall of toothpaste boxes, all approximately the same size and many sharing similar colors and graphics. Confronted with this much “sameness,” your brain looks for differences. When it can’t find enough variations, it blends everything together, becoming “blind” to the individual packages themselves. This is why we sometimes can’t see the trees for the forest. In a sea of sameness, smart manufacturers will find a way for their packaging to “pop” at the shelf.


3) Men and women are hard-wired to shop differently. Men shop by looking for targets; women shop by looking for landmarks. Women explore their territory; men make maps.

4) Origin is important. The brain likes to see the source of the product inside the package. It appreciates cows on milk cartons, for instance, and grapes on bottles of wine.

5) Faces and eye contact fascinate the brain. The brain needs to see faces to determine intent. Are you friend or foe? But the brain also prefers ambiguous expressions on faces. It likes to figure out the puzzle. What is s/he thinking or feeling? The Mona Lisa is a perfect example of the power of ambiguity. Closer to home, ambiguous faces on packaging and promotions are like magnets to the shopping brain.

Read more @ A. K. Pradeep's new book, The Buying Brain: Secrets for Selling to the Subconscious Mind

Monday Blues: Add More

What is wrong in appreciating? What is wrong in being more? What is wrong in being enthusiastic? Well, nothing. Then why don't we do that? More enthusiastic.

This Monday, change the way you interact with others, customers, colleagues, team, the valet who parks your car, the bell boy in your lift, the guy who brings you coffee. Change the way you respond to day. Be more. Add more. Add life.

Dignified. Tolerant and dignified

That is what I felt about Indians walking down the street a few hours after the Ayodhya verdict was announced and people were resilent and calm in the street. This was new to the whole world. A new message sent out very strongly to all the audeince who were expecting emotions to run high and riots on the street. The whole country, especially Bangalore, saw the whole batallions descend to maintain the calm and serenity of the people. Offices were close, shops downed their shutters, people rushed home and we all waited.

The result was smart and was especially hit well to the audience. No gain no loss strategy. I should appreciate all the political parties and religious groups for appealing calm and peace. Proud to be Indian.