Know-ember!

I love November or Know-ember! You are almost at the end of the year and lots of celebration for Christmas and new year. This know-ember at Consumer Psyche, we look at learning a lot of things, at least 30 things which are new and can help you and me to be better human beings. The first is a post by Niyati which speaks about the joy sharing your knowledge can bring to your life. I love the concept of blackboard and how simple it is to transform someone's life just by showing some care , compassion, love and extra-time. These kids might not grow and become a pilot or a doctor as they aspire but definitely they can be better than destined because of Niyati. YOU can make a change in someone's life too and guess what it will make you better and happier.

If you think you know something that would fit in here, feel free to mail or add. Keep reading, watching, learning or stay stale!

Monday Blues: Have a heart

I love good ads, even with some sting. Here is an disgusting way to garner some publicity by Micromax. Is it a good marketing vehicle? Yes! Is it right? I don't think so. I feel that marketing comes with a responsibility and good spirit. What am I taking about? Watch this...

Beating Monday Blues is easy. Treat someone way below your rank and position in your office, home or wherever today with real, genuine affection and gratitude. See how it unfolds joy and happiness in the person! Busy with our daily schedules and month end pressures we tend to behave as if normal people do not have problems like us. Everyone, however low his/her cadre is, has their problems. Share some love and no wonder it brightens their day up!

Have a happy Monday! God bless!

Let God Arise!

Can Facebook help you live longer?

I read a lot. That means I chose what to read and what not. And if I am exceptionally impressed with something only then I re-post. Here is one such gem of an article from Dr. Jame Abraham. Read on...

It was about 8.30 p.m. Darkness was spreading its wings outside the hospital window. The evening nurses were busy charting the patients assigned for the night. The corridors, which are usually bustling with resident doctors and consultants, were almost empty except for the cleaning crew with their noisy and heavy equipment. The smell of bleach and cleaning solution pervaded the atmosphere.
Room 854 was dimly lit and very quiet.

Mrs Payton was sleeping peacefully. She had an internal fixing of right femur the previous night and had not fully recovered from the sedatives that were used for the procedure. Her husband was slumped in a chair holding her hand and in deep sleep. His head was resting on the side of the bed. The silence in the room was only interrupted by the soft dripping sounds of the IV Fluid. Muted scenes from the old popular show MASH danced across the TV screen. I am sure; one of the nurses must have pressed the mute button when she saw them sleeping so peacefully.
A beautiful bouquet of fresh red roses and their wedding photo resting on the side table were the silent witnesses in the room. They were probably in their twenties in the picture. She looked so radiant and happy in her long flowing white wedding gown. He was in his military uniform. He fought in the Korean and Vietnam wars. They were high school sweet-hearts.

I almost felt guilty waking them up. A hospital is a horrible place to rest. Often in the middle of the night, when you are fast asleep, the nurses might come and ask, “Are you sleeping?” and then stick a cold thermometer into your mouth.
“Good, you have no fever. Now you can go back to sleep.” It is a cruel joke.
Reluctantly, I followed “the rules” of the hospital.
“Mr Payton, sorry to wake you up.” I touched his wrist gently. His fair skin revealed prominent blue veins.

He jolted out of the chair. “Sorry, I could not keep myself awake.” He rubbed his eyes with both hands.
“Finally, my age is catching up with me.” His paunch moved rhythmically with his laugh. Payton is nearly 84 years old now.
“We spent all night at the emergency room. They took her for surgery only early in the morning.” Payton was not complaining. He was just stating the facts. I have never heard him complain.

“Dr Abraham...” Mrs Payton woke up with a smile. Her memory was fading, but her smile was not.
“Have the children left?” She scanned the room. “I don’t know when I fell asleep, they were still here, I guess,” she looked at Payton.
“Yep, they left around 8 when the visiting time was over.” Their whole family was with them all day.
“What happened, Mrs Payton? How did you fall?” I pulled a chair and sat close to her bed.

“Oh, I don’t know, I think I tripped on the carpet,” she looked at Payton.
“Honey, you missed the step to the patio. I didn’t know that she was going to break her bone!!”
“I am glad she did not hit her head.” Mrs Payton looked pleasantly confused.
“Her head is too hard. It does not crack that easily doc,” Payton had not lost his sense of humor. “I have been married to her for 60 years. I know how hard-headed she is,” he laughed.
“Mrs Payton, you have been married to the same man for too long. I think you should think about finding a new man.” Mrs Payton laughed at my joke.
“Dr Abraham, I have been thinking about that for the past 50 years. I am afraid that no good woman in her right mind will take him,” she looked at his face and then at their wedding picture. He was still holding her hand.
She had an early stage breast cancer. She was on an anti-oestrogen treatment, which can potentially cause thinning of the bone or osteoporosis. I wondered if her fracture was caused by that.

“We may have to stop the pills for cancer and assess your bones carefully with a scan.”
“Doctor, whatever you say.” They echoed simultaneously.
“We just had another great granddaughter last week,” he pulled a picture from his smart phone.
We talked about their grandson graduating from college and great grandson playing basketball.
As I drove back home, I thought about the Paytons and their secret to happiness and longevity. Are both concepts intertwined? Do happy people actually live longer?

A Canadian study titled, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy: Positive Affect and Reduced Ten Year Incident of Coronary Heart Disease,” crossed my mind. The study followed 1,739 adults in their mid-forties over ten years. On a one-to-five scale, trained nurses rated the subjects for “positive affect”—defined by the authors as “the experience of pleasurable emotions such as joy, happiness, excitement, and contentment”. Each one-point increase in positive affect was linked to a 22 per cent reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease (such as heart attack). I thought that was pretty amazing.
Emotion such as happiness is your reaction to the environment. Two people can live through the same experience and react in totally different ways. Is the glass half full or half empty? I am pretty sure that the Paytons always looked at life as half full. Even after spending long hours at the hospital emergency room, they were not upset with the world.

According to a Danish twin study, about 10 per cent of how long an average person lives depends on his genes and 90 per cent is dictated by his lifestyle. But what is the perfect formula for the ideal lifestyle. Dan Buettner, who lead the Blue Zone Project, learned some fascinating tips about longevity from various corners of the world. He went to Sardinia Island of Noro Province in Italy, and Okinawa, Japan, which have 10 times more centenarians than the average US population.
He identified factors like low-intensity physical activity, a vegetable-based diet and wines as important ingredients for long life. But the social connectivity of these communities was extremely strong. In these communities, the social equity of a person increases as you grow old.

Another amazing aspect of the Paytons’ story is that they are so connected. They have a large family and they are very much part of the community they live in. Probably, happy people are more connected, too. He still plays golf with his buddies several times a week. She volunteers at the local church. Their social support and connectivity are amazing.
I have never seen Mrs Payton come to an appointment by herself. I wonder how Payton will cope if anything happens to her or vice-versa. The concept of “dying from a broken heart is not just a myth”. The chances of dying when a partner dies is about 50 per cent and it is called the widowhood effect.

Isolation kills; social connectivity is important for longevity. A Denmark study showed that, the feeling of loneliness was found to be associated with increased cardiovascular mortality, especially in males.
Social media, especially Facebook, has revolutionised the concept of social connectivity. More than 750 million people are connected through Facebook. If Facebook is a country, it will be the third most populous in the world after China and India. An average person has about 130 friends on Facebook. It is almost a new measure of social equity.
What draws people to Facebook and other social media? Is it a fear of open communication? It definitely provides an outlet and avenue for people to live in a social world of their choice.

But is that going to help us live longer? I don’t have the answer to that. Facebook has more traffic than Google. One in every 13 people on Earth is on Facebook. Almost 50 per cent of the 18-34-year-olds check Facebook right when they wake up. In 20 minutes almost of 2 million friend requests are accepted. The study of impact of Facebook “Facebookology” is in its infancy. But I think its social impact is definitely worth studying.
The Paytons’ keep it very simple. Their definition of social interaction is probably limited to within a 50-mile radius of their birthplace. It must have expanded slightly when their grand kids moved out of the state for college education and jobs. But their core group of support still remains close to the place they have lived all their lives. It is personal and tangible. But it is going to be different for their grand kids who prefer to build their social equity through social media from within their bedroom walls. Can they still reap the health benefits enjoyed by the Paytons?

As I opened the garage door, the digital clock on the dash board showed 9.30 p.m. Yet another day of coming home late from work. I am not sure if that is helping with my social connectivity. Adith came over and gave me a hug with a sweet smile. His older brother, Abel, was busy on his Facebook page, nurturing his virtual connectivity!

Dr Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, is Bonnie Wells Wilson Distinguished Professor, chief of oncology and medical director of Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, West Virginia University, USA. jameabraham@hotmail.com

Pointing mistakes vs Helping to improve

Got this as a forward...

Once upon a time there was a painter who had just completed his course. He took 3 days and painted beautiful scenery. He wanted people's opinion about his caliber and painting skills. He put his creation at a busy street-crossing. And just down below aboard which read – “! I have painted this piece. Since I'm new to this profession I might have committed some mistakes in my strokes etc. Please put a cross wherever you see a mistake.”

While he came back in the evening to collect his painting he was completely shattered to see that whole canvass was filled with Xs (crosses) and some people had even written their comments on the painting. Disheartened and broken completely he ran to his master's place and burst into tears.

This young artist was breathing heavily and master heard him saying “I'm useless and if this is what I have learnt to paint I'm not worth becoming a painter. People have rejected me completely. I feel like dying” Master smiled and suggested “My Son, I will prove that you are a great artist and have learnt flawless painting. Do as I say without questioning it. It WILL work.”

Young artist reluctantly agreed and two days later early morning he presented a replica of his earlier painting to his master. Master took that gracefully and smiled. “Come with me.” master said. They reached the same street-square early morning and displayed the same painting exactly at the same place. Now master took out another board which read –“Gentlemen, I have painted this piece. Since I'm new to this profession I might have committed some mistakes in my strokes. I have put a box with colors and brushes just below. Please do a favor. If you see a mistake, kindly pick up the brush and correct it.” Master and disciple walked back home.

They both visited the place same evening. Young painter was surprised to see that actually there was not a single correction done so far. Next day again they visited and found painting remained untouched. They say the painting was kept there for a month for no correction came in!

Moral: It is easier to criticize, but difficult to improve! There are lot of people around us who just wait for an opportunity to critics us. Don't get carried away or judge yourself by someone else’s criticism and feel depressed. Be Yourself.

God is good. Period.

Super Bass! Super Boss!!

Onika Tanya Maraj or Nicki Minaj is a sensation alright. I saw her songs(with > 300 million collective hits) Super Bass and saw it rise up the charts and swing teen-music-choices and paint the world pink. Here is the original song with over 170 million hits! If you think it is the best then I have something better. Two kids, Sophia and Rosie, Eight and Five sing to her song and have about 25 million hits between them in less than a month!

A lot of channels found them and get them on air but Ellen takes it a step further. Watch the video below to see.

That is wonderful. I know the kids are too good but am talking about the power of the Internet! The ease with which technology can take you so fast from something so small to something so enormous and sensational. Good luck Sophia and Rosie.

If only we can understand and fathom the mechanics of internet and use them to better reach our target audiences... but isn't that another story?

Packing it right

We have all learnt our lessons in marketing and sales right from childhood. Some of us have been taught in business schools and on job! It all boils down to what to say, how to say and when to say so the listener can comprehend and understand the message without any disturbance.

The intent is to give a maximum desired impact on the subject. Sometimes marketers(even common people) go overboard to give out the message in an excellent packaging which in turn damages the actual message and the intent goes awry. Sometimes it is the opposite. The message is given too much importance where it gets boring and uninteresting. Very few actually get it right. Here is a good example.

Call it good packaging! I would love some feedback on what you think. What am I thinking? Guess...

Monday Blues: Bury and Move on

Monday morning again....

Do you learn with time or just get dumber? I think the latter happens most often. What makes you think you are better? What makes you think you evolved over the last few years, months and days and you think you can handle things better? Why am I being so direct? People tend to look at their pain as an addiction and love to be afflicted time and again. What makes them tick to the pain and tolerate it while they have always tried to get away from it?

This happens most often in relationships and that too in broken ones. Happens to both the sexes and yes, you go, revisit and get smacked more for the same and swear that you will never go back again only to return a few days later. The reason is that I tend to think that I am much better off managing this situation and hope I can do better and deliver all those dialogues and come-backs I wanted to last time. Trust me, most of these adventures prove to be fatal and hurt you even more. The best way is to accept that you have been an idiot once and make sure you don't need to validate that time and again. Walk away and improve but don't go back to the relationship that had already hurt you, especially if you are sure you will not be happy there.

This Monday, I want you to come out and ditch the stupidity and stop convincing yourself that you are smarter. Alas, very few are, especially in the matters of the heart. So what next? This Monday, cheer up and try something else, some one new... Our population hit 7 billion the last I heard. Talk about choice!

Pic is from here.

All I need is YOU!

Way of Christ!

As a student of psychology, I learn every day and from almost everyone I see, meet or speak to. What makes someone stick to something or not? What motivates someone more than anything else? Can everything be analysed and allocated to the confines of a simple pyramid designed by Maslow? Don't think so. Traditional marketing gurus would fit what I am going to say in to one of the top chambers of the pyramid though! The more I learn, I know there is more that is unknown!

Something I envisioned and started with a good friend Peter some two years back during my graduation has snowballed in to a community. I am very happy and proud with the result as this was unexpected and frankly hardly anytime was spent on it. Skipping the marketing and behavioral discussion, Way of Christ has > 2100 followers as of today. Join if you would like to get good verses, thoughts and you can also post prayer requests, verses, etc.

Thank you Lord!

Yes! At the Cross, there's room!

Maximizing the power of your brain

Impressive and interesting! Visit www.ThinkBuzan.com for more.

Aliens - The Truth

I have written a good post about aliens some three years ago. I have researched a lot and am more enlightened, read, learnt and wiser now and here is my view now. I will try and put it in as subtle a way as I can be and here it is.

I have a bowl with fish in it. There are two fighter fish, one turtle and few guppies. There is plankton, artificial grass, some white and colored stones. I make sure there is food available all the time and that they exercise enough to earn it so they wont get sick. Once in a while I change the water and clean the bowl. If these fish think they are the only fish and that this is the only place with fish in the world then they are sadly mistaken. If they think they are too smart and know everything then again they are mistaken.

Compare our solar system and the blue planet to the bowl. Get the drift?

Take it raja!

Let me state at the outset that I love the way the team at Bingo has built a good brand and a better aura around it. Bingo ads many not be brilliant like the Zoo-zoos or have superstars selling it but have some insanely stupid logic and catches the viewers attention. This is precisely what makes people skip the Lays charisma and look at Bingo. The taste and flavor isn't much different but has a local touch and sympathizes with the person buying it.

The ads thus stand out among the clutter and manage to stay on the buyers mind long after he had watched it. Here is another brilliant ad. I am sure Bingo is going to stay for quite some time. So take it raja!

Patience

Sometimes when everything seems closed and you have reached the dead end, nothing you do works, the only solution is to keep trying and seek out options.

Book Review: Revolution 2020

Did you read the book? I finished reading it on 8th October, 2011 as I had pre-ordered it on Flipkart.com and got it delivered on 7th. A bit bulky from his other books and longer than usual, Chetan packs this one with a girl stuck between two boys who happen to be best friends and this is right from cover to cover. Written in a true bollywood style, I felt the story looks like a screenplay, fit more to the screen and a bit less oriented to a reader who is holding the book. Call it arrogance or the price of setting of high expectations after his Two States, I believe any book should be more oriented in engaging the reader rather than what happens next. I wouldn't give out much here as I think you should enjoy the book when you read it.

Now let's talk about the story.
Two friends from a small town engage in childhood as miscreants and end up becoming a good friend, obviously, a girl from a rich well to do family and as they grow fall for her and she falls for the boys too. Yes, for both of them. One of the boys, Raghav has a zeal to change the world and Gopal is pushed to the gutter due to his lesser IQ and poor financial condition which he simply blames on his parents genes. Fastforward a few years and Raghav is good at academics and Gopal is still in  gutter, only deeper. By a stroke of luck, Gopal gets a first hand taste at corruption and moves quickly high to set out something he never would have chosen otherwise and becomes successful while Gopal and the girl choose to stick to their dreams. How it all changes is when Gopal and Raghav have a face off with each other due to their ideals, principles and choices and how society responds to each of them. Yes, there are a couple of times where the 15-line-Chetan-Bhagat-style-love-scene come and go.

Themes: I liked this book for the treatment of its themes.

• Chetan looks at Love in a tangled way between emotions and corruption and how it cannot be bought or rather how it evolves over a period of time and how it can mean a lot even to people in their best or worst phases of life. R2020 seems to believe that how one manages a relationship is more inclined to what he believes in and how important his ideals are and I agree partially to that. Unfortunately many people do not believe in emotions when they have a choice and chose to misuse the word love and unfortunately 'moving on' seems to be the trend today. Chetan scores in this aspect.
• Corruption is something Chetan pitches in as casually as possible. There are hard core corrupt politicians, normal people who do everything or either pushed to, from breaking bones to kidnapping, land extortion, threatening to doing good. There is a government official who uses his official car for all personal reasons and still thinks he is honest. I think this is the pulse of the resent state! As long as I don't take a bribe and I don't bother about others taking I am not to be touched and as the book puts it, it is smart.
• Chetan has also done quite an amount of research on what happens in education system, politics, corruptions, cheating, misleading of both students and children and their hard earned money and how one can earn a lot by looking at a stake in education. Once considered sacred, education is the cash cow now, repeatedly milked and ill-treated and R2020 does justice when looking at this. The state of education, right from coaching centres to get into colleges, coaching to get in to coaching centres, exams, fees, choices, unfair, unrealistic expectations of the parents, confused students... Chetan gets brilliant here.

Would I recommend the book? Of course, yes! Why would you want to miss a good story written in simple English and is fun to read? Why would you not want to read the best selling author of Indian English literature till now? Get a nice mug of hot chocolate, cozy up in your favorite place, tune in to your i-pod and let Chetan take you away in his own style for a boat ride down the misty waves of Ganga. If you feel the stench which comes from the burnt bodies, it is only for a small stretch, you might get lost in the smokey dope or hear a lovely voice carried by the waves too.

Though I think the book could have been cut by 20-25 pages and it doesn't match the brilliance of Two States, R2020 would be a quantity seller than a quality seller.

Rating: 2.5/5.

Monday Blues: Start with a prayer

This Monday, start with a prayer and set out to reach your goals with more vigor and passion than what you actually want to and seek satisfaction in finishing the task you set out to.

I would not ask for earthly store — Thou wilt my need supply;

But I would covet, more and more, the clear and single eye,

To see my duty face to face, and trust Thee, Lord, for daily grace!

(J.J. Maxfield) 

Miracles, signs and wonders will be plenty when  you seek something and pursue with passion. Cheers!

ps: Yes, marketers believe in God too :)

Don't believe all that you read!

Human psyche is interesting. Very interesting. You can read, decipher and understand two things from the same source and yet come out with a different belief for each. When you read something related to things you don;t like, you feel it is false. When you read information matching your belief system, you think it is true. But most of us believe everything we read in papers, especially if it is related to health and wellness, and think just because it is reported in some foreign magazines or newspapers it might be true. Sometimes it is better to take information pitched in science journals about something studied comprehensively too with a pinch of salt. This becomes even more important when you see some self proclaimed gurus come out with claims on what you should eat, drink and do to be healthy on tv every morn. Watch out for the real data and not the spoofed up facts. How you can be cheating yourself when you read things and follow or best put, you self-medicate.

Why I think Anna should eat!

I am amazed and happy about the marketing success of Anna's agitation and how people, especially the Gen Y has connected to the vision of a corruption free India. How impressive is the ideal and the Lokpal bill is a pioneering step towards this direction. I am proud to be born in a country where a common man or a group of people could hold the government responsible and stop its functioning. Democracy is one of the least praised and understood blessings.

I have to admit that I love the idea but being someone who likes to look at things in a practical way especially when it comes to buying into the Utopian ideas, I have to admit, I am a tough buyer. A great cause is great because it is very very difficult to achieve. If I were Anna(which I am not and might never be), I would accept the bill minus the PM and then get it to move as swiftly as possible to reality.

Let's face it. I have personally faced or have close friends who have seen corruption rampant in hospitals, police station, railway stations, restaurants, government offices, private offices, parents, children, friends, even autowalas and every other place imaginable. People cheat. That is their unchangeable character. If you find someone who doesn't, it is a rarity. Corruption is at all levels and cannot be routed out so easily with just one bill nor can it be changed with one single swipe. All the governments, since our independence, and on a larger scale since the beginning of history has had people who would do anything to earn some extra chai-money. Simple solutions might not be the way to look at it.

Let's think about it. Even if we bring back all the black money and use it to develop India, >80% of it will not reach the final beneficiary; Even if it did, >90% of all the money brought back will go back to the people who presently own it in another 10-15 years. I wish Anna would eat and live long enough to see a lot of changes.


Prompting ideals on a blog is easier but if our politicians are serious about it and want to support Anna, I mean really support him, let them come forward and declare they wouldn't accept anything which isn't theirs for the next five years. Can we get some 50 MPs, 50 MLAs, 50 IAS officers, 50 Railway TCs, 50 policemen who would do this? You know the answer.

Is corruption universal? I think so. However, there are exceptions to it. I have also seen many sincere officers who have lived within their means and have treated bribery or any other corruption like cancer and stayed away from it all their life. The result? One rented house or shanty with minimal access to health care and daily requirements or even worse. But you know what is the greatest asset they possess? A guilt free mind and Himalayan satisfaction that they have done the right thing. This probably is a rarity, may be only those of higher birth can afford to experience.

This world wont bargain for your simpleton principles Anna. They are so happy without the knowledge of their soul being traded to Mephistopheles while they admire the beauty of worldly riches. So for all practical purposes, Anna should happily eat.

Learn from Kardashian

There are 4 marketing attributes that small businesses can learn from Kardashian.

1. Exposure is critical: Every company needs a steady stream of exposure. Consumers will readily forget your name, products and services. It is important to remind them every day about your organization. You must have a clear message and be creative in your presentation. Kim Kardashian makes sure she is photographed at events, walking on the street or getting a manicure. 
2. Control the news: One of the best marketing tactics is to befriend others; groups, individuals and/or news organizations. Let people and organizations know what your business is about, how you benefit the community and upcoming events. Toot your horn so that the entire world may hear the music. Several weeks before Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian became engaged, Kim was quoted in the news as saying "I want to get married." Translation – Attention Kris, I am expecting a proposal. Attention news organizations; get ready for a bidding war for the wedding photos. Kim definitely controlled the news.
3. Make consumers want more: All forms of positive publicity are important. Consumers are eager to be reminded of exciting events, have their minds taken off negative aspects of the economy and learn about savings or events that will benefit them. Vera Wang is rarely if ever photographed walking down the streets of NY. Wang did something unheard to promote the Kardashian wedding gown. About one week before Kim's wedding, Vera and Kim were photographed together walking down a NY street. The associated article discussed the upcoming wedding, Kim's dress designed by Wang and the star-studded event in general. The publicity stunt left consumers (i.e., readers of gossip magazines) wanting more.
4. Be creative in your marketing: Marketing a company may take many different formats. Just because you used electronic billboards in one location in the past doesn't mean they should be used in the future. Constantly examine the marketing goals with activities. Ask "are the efforts bringing in the desired amount of sales?" If not, make changes. The Humphries-Kardashian wedding is estimated to bring in a lot of money for the newlyweds. It was reported that People magazine paid $1.5 million for exclusive rights to the wedding photos. E! had exclusive rights to video the ceremony. E! is scheduled to the ceremony on two nights. The amount paid to the newlyweds was not disclosed. Kim certainly was creative in marketing her summer 2011 activities. I'm not saying that she became a bride for financial reasons; it simply was a bonus.  

Prayer

Reading: Acts 16:22-34

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,

and you will be saved and your entire household" (Acts 16:31)

"I am a wretched sinner; Jesus Christ is my Saviour.

                                                This is the greatest of all my discoveries!"

                                            (Sir James Simpson, Inventor of Chloroform)

 

Can you be positive?

Can you be positive? Well, then how much? How does it effect your life? How much does it change you and everything around you? Being positive is a challenge. Being positive is a change you should take. Positiveness is contagious and is a good way.

Try spreading some cheer, a lot of positiveness and smile a lot. It makes things better. Just a lot more better. For you, for your team, for your employees and most importantly for your consumers!

Now, can you be positive?

How great thou art!

Thank you Lord for everything I have got and for everything you have done.

Monday Blues: I love Mondays

I love Mondays. Here is why.

1. God loved Sunday and blessed it! 
2. She has a tough job to do
3. No one likes her and still she manages to turn up
4. No matter how good she can be, she is always compared to Sunday

Now that is called guts and determination. If we had half that attitude and courage...

I am moved!

Well, keeping the Live young spirit on, here is one more commercial for you to smile about. Love this team and their ads. Keep it up guys. Yes, I am moved!

Live Young

What is left for creating in advertising that will catch your world? Well there seems to be a lot more than what you think is left. 

Here is proof. Though it is a pretty old commercial, it caught my attention and couldn't stop posting it. Life is good when you live young and living young is an art, not for the faint-hearted, easily demotivated and give-up-along-the-way type of people.

Living young is a challenge, taking each day as it comes, learning, changing, improving, evolving. Life is a game, Each day being a lap. Keep running till you are the winner.

Good luck and God bless! Have a wonderful weekend!

Learning...

"Teach me, and I will be quiet;


show me where I have been wrong" (Job 6:24)

Pic is from here.

Get off my trail!

 

Ever more intrusive, storing your personal information, saving, tracking, predicting and monitoring. What next?

Do you know that each and every search query you type on Google gets stored in some way or the other even if you are not logged in(IP address) to Google and Google can automatically track and recognize your gestures and how you behave? Though it happens to be on a good side reducing my time spent on searching or seeking information. To give you an idea, if you add up all the status messages on Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, you would find that your behavior follows a trend. You watch a particular genre of movies on a particular day, eat at a a certain place these many times a month, call these people this many times, travel, etc. and all are always track-able, more importantly more predictable.

Did u get text messages and mails asking you to buy a site, car, loan, camera, etc.? Try talking about buying something on phone and you get these messages. Try speaking about eating out and you will get messages about dining and restaurants. Try speaking about parties, birthdays and you will get offers about gold, etc. You get the drift? Technology intrusion can be appalling.

This information allows me to see when you would feel low and have ice cream or down yourself in booze or call that particular friend, watch that movie, shop! I can understand your profile, your behavior, your psyche and us it to my advantage. I, the marketer, would be glad to shell out greens to have access to that information.

Scary? I feel so. Careful what you type on your Facebook status!

Length of one minute

The length of one minute depends on which side of the bathroom door you are!

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.