Bs Editorial
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone https://telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS 12 ISSUES AND INSIGHTS MUMBAI | MONDAY, 3 JULY 2017 1 > ance”. Nike succeeded because it man- not pass the muster of sugar/health or aged to hit on a new emerging cultural organic/natural, but it hit on the cultur- > CHINESE WHISPERS Cultural infusion in brands phenomenon in the US, of people run- al truth of authentic, almost forgotten ning to stay fit. Anyone and everyone old taste. In a sense even Fab India has After rational, emotional and social factors, experts have now decoded yet could do it. Nike’s heroes were not sports infused its brand with a strong cultural another magic ingredient that has been helping brands stay ahead celebrities (though they were featured in truth; authentic, natural, home-grown Who coined good & simple tax? the ads), but the everyday Joe who had fabrics and also great social values of pay- In his address at the Central Hall of bought it for purely emotional reasons, of time. So a detergent brand not only re- taken up running. Or take the brand ing a fair price to their vendors. Parliament on Friday to mark the launch of they will never be satisfied.” moved dirt, thereby giving the mother Patagonia. This very successful brand of This is just an indicative list. I am sure the goods and services tax (GST), Prime So rational reasons help the consumer the confidence to let her kids play in the outdoor wear hit on the cultural truth of there are many more brands in the Indian Minister Narendra Modi delivered a catchy stay satisfied with the purchase. But real dirt (because dirt is good), but also used love for the environment. So the brand market that are able to score a win over phrase to describe the indirect taxes happiness with the purchase comes from a lot less water. A food brand speaks of promises to recycle, commit resources deep pocketed competition, by hitting reform initiative. He described GST as the the emotional infusion into the brand. using organically sourced raw materi- for environmental development. Or take on a cultural truth and infusing itself good and simple tax. A few minutes later So a soap is not just a cleaning agent, but als. A notebook brand speaks of being Body Shop, which is now being sold off by with that truth. the audio-visual presentation made at the is also the beauty secret (of film stars). A green-conscious through its plantations L’Oreal, that pleaded to a “no animal test- Is there a way to unearth such cultur- roll-out function also described GST as the toothpaste not only cleans your teeth, (we will plant a tree for every book you ing” commitment. They hit on the cul- al truths? Or is it just a hit and miss? good and simple tax. Who coined this but gives you a unique “ring of confi- buy). And so on. tural truth of a caring woman who did not For a start you could start brushing up catchy phrase for GST? It turns out that dence”, a life free of bad breath problems. As if these three raison d’être is not want to hurt animals in the process of on some basic readings on cultural well-known tax expert Satya Poddar used AMBI M G PARAMESWARAN A detergent not only washes away stains, enough, now experts have decoded yet getting a better eyeliner. branding and anthropology research. this phrase to reiterate what GST must but helps your child feel confident in another magic ingredient that has been If you look closer home, Royal Enfield Then spend more time in the market, stand for. And he did so in one of his here was a time when branding school and win the merit badge. helping some brands stay ahead of the has managed to mine the cultural truth with consumers. Invest in trying to und- articles published in Business Standard. was a relatively simple affair. You Life was humming along and a few curve. They have looked beyond the usu- behind an older bike lover, who is no erstand how socio-cultural trends are The headline of Poddar’s article published Thad to ensure that your brand had years ago companies started mouthing al rational and emotional reasons for longer a speed fiend. He likes it a little being captured in mainstream popular on May 18, 2015, said : “GST should be a a strong rational reason for consumers the need for brands for espousing social their success and have unearthed yet slower and hence culturally a little dif- culture and fringe popular culture. good and simple tax.” to buy it and you need to ensure that you causes as well. So we now have a three- another dimension. ferent from a typical mobile user, and we Finally you need to take that leap of faith. stuff it with enough emotional reasons legged stool. Rational. Emotional. Social. In his book Cultural Strategy, Douglas may say a little more rooted. Or take Classical consumer research may not be as well. As Jonathan Harries, then Companies started identifying social Holt speaks of brands that managed to Manyawar which mined into the cultur- able to green-light a cultural infusion Some relief after GST worldwide creative director at Foote causes that specific brands will embrace. get ahead of the competition by latching al truth behind big weddings and the idea. You may need to explore new met- Cone Belding, put it, “You need brands I am not speaking of inane five-minute on to an emerging important cultural concept of “YaarkiShaadi”. No amount hodologies to get your reconfirmation. to be both emotional and rationally videos on YouTube that celebrate the truth. Nike did not succeed, according of rational, emotional, social mining But I assure you it will be a fun ride. anchored. Because if the consumer fashion of the month social cause. I am to Prof Holt, because of empty superstar would have unearthed that cultural truth. bought if for purely rational reasons referring to key social causes that brands celebrity endorsements or their com- Or take Paper Boat which mined into the The writer is an independent brand strategist, they will never be happy. And if they embrace at their core and over a period mitment to “Authentic Athletic Perform- cultural truth of “childhood tastes”. It did author and founder, Brand-Building.com The fast-growing analytics opportunity Analytics will remain the differentiator for winning firms in an increasingly competitive hiring and customer environment prescriptive models that will enable The global environment is dominated them to garner higher market and by four key solution vendors — SAP, SAS, opportunity share. Banking, financial IBM and Oracle — with others like ILLUSTRATION: BINAY SINHA services and manufacturing are likely Microsoft, Qlik, Tableau, Teradata, to lead the adoption and with increas- MicroStrategy and Informatica also ing focus on digital transformation in becoming partners of choice to many Mumbaikars are heaving a sigh of relief every sector, changes in the way organ- corporations with their solution stacks. after octroi at the entry points to the city isations interact with all stakeholders The service provider space predictably was abolished under the goods and and everything — data, applications has most of the large incumbents — services tax (GST) regime and the five check and infrastructure — moving to the IBM, Accenture, the Indian top six IT nakas are being dismantled. According to cloud, the imperative and opportunities firms and business process specialists estimates, for every rupee earned by the GANESH NATARAJAN for gathering quantitative and qualita- like Genpact, WNS and EXL. Some very Mumbai municipal corporation, another tive data from multiple sources will interesting niche vendors like LA-based rupee was paid as bribe. Mumbaikars are e are justifiably proud of our only multiply every year. Systech Inc. and Bengaluru-based Bridge hoping the state government would IT and business process serv- Indian firms, too, like their counter- i2i Ltd. are holding their own, largely remove even the toll collection points at the Wices industry, which has grown parts in the West, have taken to the ana- because of the deep insights they have entry to the city that delay free movement from humble beginnings to a 150 bil- lytics imperative in recent months and developed in key customer domains of goods — for hours at times — thus lion-dollar global powerhouse in a few it’s good to see analytics centres of excel- globally and the collaborative approach increasing the cost burden on traders. decades. Today, there may be signs of lence springing up in key corporates aro- they bring to customers. The service Traders suggest the government levy the the growth slowing down to single dig- und the country. Not surprisingly, the provider landscape extends from pure same tax at fuel pumps. its but there are some segments that will primary focus of many new centres is play vendors to small start-ups, KPO continue to present enormous oppor- on customer behaviour with the design helping to optimise inventories and correlations to multi-variable modelling players and IT vendors, and most of the tunities — the evolving world of analyt- of marketing analytics solutions that tar- demand and supply chain management and analysis, and artificial intelligence global in-house centres of large corpo- ics is clearly one of the most exciting. get marketing spends optimisation, pro- across countrywide and multi-country and machine learning enabling predic- rations in India have built deep analytics A party gathering The big data and analytics market motion campaign effectiveness and networks, do route optimisation, ship- tions and prescriptions to become sharp- capabilities to support global teams.