The Constant Observer

So I was just hanging with a few friends the other day and it was a buddys 23rd birthday. He was going on and on about how he is getting older and he was depressed.

Probably my second post about my trip to Pilani - the train journey taught me a lot.

One of the things i noticed was the sampling being done by Orbit Chewing Gum on the Rajdhani Express. On the way to Delhi, the placement was of another kind while on the way back to Mumbai - something else took shape.


On the way to Delhi the sample was provided at the end of the Journey - just before arrival. Along with that came a questionnaire asking if the Chewing Gum was provided with the meal tray (which was the desired placement as opposed to at the end of the journey). It also asks the standard stuff wanting to gauge customer involvement with the product. (a particularly funny question asks consumers if the Indian Railways is a good communications medium).




Obviously a lot of people would have ticked that the gum did not come with the meal tray as a result of which the railways would have been pulled up. On my way back to Mumbai - 3 days later, the gum was given with the meal tray.


I actually think that Orbit has got the placement wrong. The earlier placement of distributing it loosely and distributing it is 'free courtesy Wrigleys' works much better. It makes the gum stand out, gives it more goodwill, and etches the product in the consumers' mind. If it comes as a part of the tray, one can often mistake it to be something that is being provided by the railways - a part of the package (on my way back it came with the tray - and no questionnaire followed it).


I also noticed that this gum competed directly with the mouth freshner already being provided. So most people stuck to the mouth freshner and either discarded it or put it in their bags (for their kids maybe?)


It would be better if they had underlined the value of that original 'mistake' and continued with it. I felt that the railway ushers hold great weightage in the passenger train eco system. Why not capitalize on that and buy markets (not sell products).

Out of the 8 colour ads in The Hindu (Delhi edition)- 6 were by the government (21/9/2008). And all the governments ads were larger than the 2 private ads (not considering small classified ads).

Why is the government advertising so much? Are private institutions not as interested or is the govt providing a higher rate? So many questions - maybe the media guys will know better.

I wont speculate; leaving you with a glimpse of all the govt. ads

A few weeks back, i stumbled upon an interesting post by Saurabh Sharma. The post centered around making the point that increasingly, people were recording mass events from their POV along with the media highlighting a 2 way (or 3 way rather) communication paradigm.

Case in point, the recently concluded Beijing Olympics where there was a 'ubiquity of cameras, video recording devices, and mobile phones as the teams starting marching in.' With the prevelance of communication devices this is bound to happen since every individual wants to view an event as a 'piece of me' scenario along with the mass media scenario.

(Further fuelling this self recording spree is the fact that there are a multiplicity of social media vehicles to showcase these seemingly 'personal' moments and gain another step on the social ladder - but thats another post altogether - must add here; saw an interesting Album Title the other day - "What happens in New York.. goes on Facebook!")

Saurabh seems to be making the point that Every performance now seems to be turning into a two way show, that which is being watched and that which is being watched by those who are being watched. I think its safe to add here that its actually also being watched by the peers of those who are being watched themselves. He also noticed that people are choosing to record as much as they choose to experience the moment. He asks the question - is this a new behavior or is this something we always wanted to do but never had the tools?

I dont know if i can answer the question on a general level but on a personal level, i think recording less is a habit that has been 'learned' by me by becoming familiar with recording technology. I went to Kashmir and recorded 4 - 90 minute tapes and i will never see them again. I lost out on defining moments. Humans enjoy films and that tells me that we typically don't like to see more repetition of the same thing. We like to see less of more if you know what i mean. With new recording technologies maybe we try and capture as much as we can till we realize that we probably can't cherish it. More like the classic case of over - eating na? Or the kid who put his hand in a jar full of sweets and could never get it out.

What do you think?

The thought of multiple cameras also brings to mind a possible business model. Live streaming of events through multiple eyes using crawlers (and also bandwidth) that are probably twice as efficient as we know them today? Or to start off - just a timeline led amalgamation of multimedia content with the same tags to experience an event once its over. To the same, Saurabh adds - you could also provide a service that helps people learn the art of shooting and the joy of experiencing. Something like the recording basics, say "do not just look at the world through the lens". Or experience first, carry home later.

Do add your take on the possiblility of business models that can arise as a result of this multiple documentation.

In this post, reknowned marketeer Saurabh Sharma talks about the PC environement not having an app eco system - like the iPhone app store where applications are crafted in a way that they reflect function freed from form.

This according to him, has not happened yet because PC applications, have been dominated mainly by one software company viz. Microsoft. In the computing arena we are still carrying Microsoft influenced enterprise legacy on our shoulders.

I tended to disagree.

My response:

I think the function independent of form for PC's that you are talking about already exists. Look at the change in scenario coming about. We use so many web based apps. In my company atleast. We use Google Apps to host email (not outlook), we try using Google Docs or Zoho Docs as often as possible (not MS Office), for invoicing we use a web based invoicing tool, for Project Management we use a brilliant tool called Deskaway - it helps us simplify teamwork, it helps us manage projects, create milestones, tasks, responsibilities etc. - and it also acts like an online repository for client info (you should check it out). Then there is also slideshare on which we host our slideshows. I dont use Dreamweaver to customize my code - i do right off Wordpress. I use Wordpress/Blogger to help me convert text to code. I also use Comiqs.com to make comics and if the online version of photoshop becomes better along with my bandwidth - then il chuck the CS3 version from my laptop as well!

Point is - web based tools are making this revolution happen where multiple applications are being developed to satisfy multiple needs - almost to an extent of mass customization to the finest detail. It's fantastic.

Case in point - check out FireFox and the various Plugins - the directory and the use of some plugins is brilliant. FF has created a developer community that Apple can only dream of.

Saurabh responded by saying:

Web based application are the precursor to the freeing of function from the form in the Personal Computing Arena. I would be happy to see more of these being as mainstream enterprise solutions and everyday home applications. Part of the fact that they still do not dominate the market is perhaps to do with the fact that they are relatively new in the market and another part of it is to do with enterprise inertia to shift – the risk is bigger for a large enterprise than for a start up or home business.

Also, I am curious how the market would be in the next 10 years. Would it be still dominated by one big application software company with many 'others' competing for the rest of 10-20% of the market or could it be that the stage shifts to web based applications.

I am also curious how platforms like Firefox make money. If money is not the motive than can it becomes a mainstream business model in the future? This is something that puts me in two minds about opensource. Is it commerce or plain activism to block dominance of big players, many times suppoered on the sly by another big brother who wants to counter the current number one?

My reply:

I think your concerns with OpenSource are valid. But i think plain activism led open source is not necessarily a reality that can be supported for too long. The world is too small and the buzzworthiness of information is much higher. It takes some time before Open Source becomes consumer friendly and the people who jump on to it initially tend to be more opinionated, more experimental and i would also say a lot smarter at a certain level. They would get the news if the open source project is activism led - and if the community decides that it's fine - so be it. You cannot dictate/ change the market, can you? And i think plain activism will not work at all - the open source project has to have some tangible benefit. Only then will people look to use/ contribute. It's sort of a chain reaction, isn't it?

Pseudo open source movements today are being championed by companies such as Google, Apple, (now) Rediff and Facebook - which i think is good for their businesses and in the long run also better for consumer because one is ensured that a market is created and if consumers find something valuable, returns are reaped (although there may be imperfections and these techonomies are not as 'free' as they should be).

Also, i think developers will flock to locations and develop open source to a large extent only if they are able to answer the question 'What's in it for me' - so for example, a lot of web development companies i know have developed an app on Facebook that they seek to make viral or they have a Firefox plugin that is really useful - then these open source economies become great to showcase skills with respect to platform and customer understanding for companies (just like our respective content and idea creation companies may keep a blog etc.) and consumers also benefit. Multiple small businesses are building on each other to create an eco - system that is mutually beneficial which i think is great. My economic understanding is still not sound enough to highlight glaring pitfalls - maybe you could enlighten me on that.

This i think is also a fundamental shift in the way we think. This may sound like faff but i genuinely believe that because of the internet and the openness of the weboconomy we have become a lot more utilitarian. In terms of the monetization bit - i think it is going to become difficult for more people to monetize more things because there (has always been) but there will be more stress on the intangible value of things.

I dont know how the market would be in the next 10 years but i certainly would like to see user groups using different kind of tailor made applications by different companies. But i suspect that will not be the case, we humans are a lazy, unadventurous lot. Most of us will use many applications by the same company and a few applications here and there by smaller peripheral companies. If one of the peripheral companies becomes very popular then maybe we will use more applications by that company. We are, i think (and i hope) on the long road to multiplicity of application use. I sincerely hope, that as mankind we can shatter the idea of '3-4 big players rule a market' - especially on the web. Hopefully, better distribution channels and more emphasis on Word of Mouth online because of obvious changes in the communication eco system, economies of scope will be higher.

I cant wait for tomorrow - and i love today.

Saurabh finally summed it up by saying:

On one hand we have this huge centrifugal force of open source that is brewing diversity, enabling newer niches, getting more and more 'micro' - a dream come true for many a advanced user. And on the other hand there is the impending challenge of a basic standard or operation. A basic common ground that can integrate everything seamlessly (without making us compromise too much!). By everything I mean Internet and Mobile Applications on one side and the new genre of RFID enabled devices and static objects that would need a common grammar to relate to, so as to be able to help everything in the room (and outside) to talk to everything else.
When your shoes will talk to my friends wristwatch - we would need both of them to agree on a basic grammar for their language of communication and operation.

As computing becomes ubiquitous we would need much more interoperability and greater the interoperability the deeper perhaps would be the need for a standard. I know that this word Standard sounds too Microsoftish, but I am sure that the future would not hinge on one enterprise to dictate the 'spelling' of the new universal communication Standard.
Lot of action awaits and I am quite excited!

Clicked this for my photography project. Its my wallpaper on the phone

I actually wont be able to upload the pictures today... they're still not boastworthy. Will upload tomorrow for sure.

Today ive been exploring this blogging via the mobile phone thing and i find it difficult to create hyperlinks and add pictures easily among other things. So far thats a downfall.

But its extremely handy. The mobile as a power packet is a definite possibility!

We've been designing for a pitch that we jump into tomorrow. Its for a company that makes sensor based bulbs, led lights, adaptors that are like swiss knives, bells, and switches. We've got 1 product to work with.. Will put up concepts later... Quite excited!

ive configured the shozu app with my e71. Hope it works so i can keep
posting pictures to this blog. Apart from that, ive also started
moblogging. I'll try and post regularly.

Have a big meeting today with a design firm.

I plan to start reading Chomsky today.

So my girlfriend happens to be on her way to LA via Hong Kong for a tiny job (its a whirlwind tour really - 3 days in all!) -- anyway she's off to LA and today happens to be her birthday (please drop your wishes as comments! - she will love it i am sure - and its an excuse for me to get her to look at this blog!)

When she was checking in, the lady at the Cathay counter welcomed her with a smile and wished her Happy Birthday. She was also presented with a card. It really showed her that the airline cared - and guess what! - she spoke about it! She told me and i am pretty sure she will tell her family and 2 more friends for sure. And here i am - telling you about it! So a card which probably cost Rs. 20 - half a US$ is likely to reap greater returns - much greater than expected!




A lot of organizations collect Data - very few organizations manage the data well! Data mining, management and analytics on the consumer end is all about resulting in an end process that transcends in consumer delight. I hope other firms are looking and listening.
(If you'd like innovative ways to manage your data and delight consumers - call on FoxyMoron)

The following example also shows why viral marketing is important. I wrote about a social media wasteland that has been created - at the same time, reality bites. No matter what the ideal situation is, people will talk, write, tweet etc - so delight your customer and it's likely that your base will be more loyal, and also shout out loud. You don't need to give your customers 50% discounts always - delighting them through simple things can go a long way. With consumers being increasingly interconnected mostly due to Web 2.0 tools and the sharing barriers to entry limited - prepare yourself - get your brand in the YAPspace.

I need to spruce up this blog - a bit!

By conservative estimates, the New York Public Library alone has over 5 Crore Books!

On an average, a person probably reads about 5,000 books in his lifetime.

So why are we incessantly creating more content every day. Often - in various fields, mankind has gone to the depths of knowledge and grappled with some of the most important questions and yet, often; most of us love to air our opinions on everything under the sun - speaking without listening and observing. Speaking for recognition, speaking to just oil the mental machinery, speaking almost always - just for the heck of it! (possibly this piece of writing comes in the same category - it does, actually)

Maybe speaking and being heard is a desired necessity. Something that sparks off a sense of importance, a sense of instant immortality - a chance to be remembered. So you have about one blog or more being born every half second!

The result is content that is churned out - most of which bases itself on pop culture crap or conventional wisdom. While a lot of the content that blogs churn out is interesting, useful - very little of this content actually has lasting value.

So should we be blogging? Or should we trying to gather more information and contemplating more than the average human being - listening more, observing more - and 'doing' (observing and listening is also 'doing' - but people conventionally think of the 2 as extremely passive) ? Should we be reading few more of those 5 crore books in the New York Library!?

Wavering a bit - just looking at the sheer numbers is humbling - 5 crore books in one library = millions of hours of contemplation - much more than we can imagine. With the lower barriers to entry and the blog - as a - book phenomenon; i seriously sometimes question the value in what most of us consume. The social media/ web 2.0/ blogging revolution has most certainly made us poorer readers (note, i am completely aware that we read faster and that we read more) and we often cannot determine the depths of value in pieces of work.


I guess blogging has it's place in the mass media spectrum - and it satisfies the inherent need that everyone has. With respect to value, i think people will place more value in the future (near future) on ability to collate and piece together information and make sense of it - in the larger perspective.


Blogging i think for all at some base level is a means of expression and more. So a few got on board. But what about the others who couldn't do so on a consistent basis. Well for them, the stuff they shared is now being compiled as a feed and being made into a life blog. Sharing options are easier - feeds are easier to access. So one part of blogging is moving towards just a compilation of expression.



While this is great, it still probably does not hit the sweet spot of the lowest common denominator. So lo and behold - before you know it - we'll probably have an aggregator that makes a big deal out of every click we make out fingers perform on that mouse (which is soon to be obsolete btw). The result will be a ton of senseless information and too many inflated egos trying to make a point with every click.

Have we gone any further?

I think i'll read one of those books now. Or maybe sit still, and think. I rarely do that these days.

I met up with Kiruba Shankar - THE MAN when it comes to the Blogosphere in India. Received his famous card as well.

Kiruba did a quick session on 'Why You Should Blog' - i jotted down a few points. I will not add too much. To read my thoughts on Blogging in the last 10 years - check this post.


So Kiruba feels that the collective intelligence of the audience is much better than the speaker which is why he let other do the talking.

So the conference was all about anectodes.

Some of the things that came out of the anecdotes:

Be a thought leader in your field. Provide valuable content. That can be done by even challenging the thought leaders, ensuring that the right tags are placed, if you're on WP, use the All in One SEO Pack. Use Post slugs appropriately.

(i said i wont add but i saw an IPL Blog with the slug '-ipl' at the end of every post. The content was relevant wrt to the tags and slugs so obviously the blog was a success)

Interestingly and not surprisingly enough, Kiruba had the best anecdote:

He spoke about an orthopedic surgeon on YouTube – he records video surgeries by giving discounts to his pattients. He then puts up these videos online. He thus has started to get clients from the US – people who were over 60, whose medical insurance has expired. He books tickets for them, books rooms. They find him credible, they have a better experience at a better price. They are 80% of his clientele.


If you want a blog to become successful:
- Don’t drum yourself down; just start!
- Whatever you write, there is an audience!
- Start writing and continue writing and don’t bother about site stats.
- Link to big blogs – trash big bloggers.
- Be a thought leader. Be the best. Or try.
- Blogging as an identity check for getting hired. Be a thought leader. The big guys are looking. Your blog can get you hired.


Blogging is also about purity of intention.

Don’t have the time for a full-fledged blog? Start a MoBlog, or a MicroBlog. SMSGupshup and Twitter await.

Be a Part of the Web 2.0 Revolution!

SMS Based Ads – Plain SMS Texts Coming as Ads and Offers. They are extremely annoying and over time users become blind-sided. Within SMS ads there are new innovations such as Click to call etc – check more on Yahoo!’s mobile advertising strategy on this video.

SMS Based Contests – Inviting responses and getting users on mailer lists and then sending out updates. While this strategy ensures some sort of engagement, the tendency is to use that database to send SMS Based Ads. Care must be taken while framing messages. (This includes framing of Short codes etc)

Branded Mobile Applications – Creating useful applications that can be branded. Without operator support this is difficult.

Display ads and Sponsorships within Mobile Applications – This is another model that could be followed especially by the bigger brands. Within applications that are viral they can sponsor certain activities. For example sponsoring IM or sending out mass IM’s within applications related to social networking that invite people to an event and hosting a branded event.

SMS Based Communities around topics that can be used to have plug a variety of brands in a portfolio discreetly. For this a platform such as SMSGupshup can be used. For example – a community on Internet in India owned by someone from Reliance could be used to plug BigAdda, The BigB Blog, Zapak, Big Maps, Big Flicks, Reliance Mobile etc. The moderator however must ensure that he gets into the trust circle of users and refrains from making it seem like spam.

Ads within Community Messages – This is again the SMS Gupshup Model where relevant ads that synergize with content being sent out by group owners are placed in messages. So the idea is to place ads within content that people like to consume. A better model than the SMS based ads model. Again people might get blindsided.

Location Based Ads on Mobile (for Search) – Ads could be sent out on mobiles when people search for locations. So nearby locations can be advertised. This virtually totally opens up the platform for anybody and everybody with a local listing to sign on.

WAP Portals & sites catered to Mobile Phones – While they are handy, they rarely have a pull effect. Noone wants to visit a branded WAP portal from their mobile phone. An effective strategy could be to use Micro sites developed specially for mobile and drive engagement.

Bluetooth Advertising – This is something that I’ve noticed in Phoenix Mills. I get messages on my phone if my Bluetooth is tuned on. Bluetooth trackers can be placed in locations where individuals spend some amount of time and only location based offers can be sent to people whose Bluetooth is on.

Voice Response Contests – Similar to SMS Contests. Simplicity for the user is greater.

Ad Sponsored Calls - Before a consumer's call connect's, a short 15 second ad can play. The advertiser can thus off set some of the consumers' call cost while creating reach, and possibly some engagement. This is generally an opt - in model.

This is by no means a comprehensive list. Please add to it. Some of the things may have slipped out of my mind.

Everyone is looking at the Whooping numbers on Mobile at this point of time. The numbers are definitely slated to grow but at the same time, one will also see that advertising on mobile will grow increasingly intrusive. It already is. With so many options and avenues available for advertising one wonders how people will react to mobile advertising. What actions will consumers take? Your guess is as good as mine.

One thing is for sure. Only content that provides value will be accepted. The Mobile is a personal, conversational medium and to get into a person’s ‘individual space’, you need to provide value and engagement. That is easier said than done. But there are avenues and means to doing that. People on the mobile are searching for content (as is true on any medium) but the line between ads and content will blur even more with the blitzkrieg of mobile advertising.

Your thoughts and opinions – extremely valued. Please feel free to share exploratory theories.