The Power of the "Rumor-Mill"

Its common knowledge that word of mouth is THE undisputed tool for brand building, if not now, it will be sometime in the middle of the unpredictable yet very near future. What is uncommon is using it for real right now. And thats just what has been happening. If you dont believe what you are hearing, maybe you are hearing too much of billo’s rumors! Or may be, you need to check out their facebookgroup at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6469863003

Well the power of rumor in brand building is evident in this award winning project. The group, consisting of 4 students from NSU has created a rumor phenomenon, while they were preparing for a local competition called “Inter University Promologic 2007″. In the process, they gave birth to a facebook group consisting only of rumors! Currently the group has 482 members who are in it for the rumors and rumors only!

Just ponder for a second. Isnt it quite obvious? Doesnt our ancient tag of “hujugeye” jaty shows us that our brand builders should have thought about it a lot earlier?

Rumors are just a powerful form of word of mouth, just like buzz or recommendations. But digging deep, it has some unruly characteristics that makes it more powerful than the conventional word of mouth wisdom.

1. Rumors are as unpredictable as the path of a maelstrom. Its like an arrow that has been shot. Once you create its path, you can never control it.

2. Rumors spread faster than any other form of word of mouth - simply because the “sin” tag attached to it. Its wrong to spread rumor, that makes it more likely that it will be spreading in record time.

3. Rumors can never be traced back to the origin. That is why its a fantastic tool for brand builders because once they drop a rumour bomb among the mass, they can just sit and enjoy. No one’s gonna point the finger at you with much proof to back it up.

Unintentional rumours has helped brands or created overnight sensations out of them. But the time has come when we pull the reins of this unpredictable horse and use rumours as a calculated means to maximize your brand stickiness.

Shahriar Amin is the creator of the first brand related blog in Bangladesh at http://shammograffity.wordpress.com where he distributes world class brand teachings customized for the benefits of Bangladeshi businesses and students.

Promoting Art through IT

When Pohela Baishakh comes we see Dhaka get painted with different shades. We know who do this great job to make this colorful spectacle. They are the students of Art College. Every year a good number of students are passing from the CharuKala Institute. We know they have quality but do they really have a chance to prove it? Currently, they don’t have an effective enough platform to do what they do best and earn money in doing so. But a simple idea can change all that.

How many people of our country buy painting or creative works? Its minuscule compared to how many people buy it globally. Who says Bangladeshi aspiring artists need to sell to Bangladeshi buyers only? If we get rid of this notion and apply the wonderful world of World Wide Web in the selling process, it can really do wonders for the aspiring artists of the Art College.

Introducing marriage of IT and Arts to create a promotional website for CharuKala Institute. When a student at CharuKala Institute enrolled then s/he will get a user ID and password from the Institute to access the website and upload his/her portfolio on there. This way each and every student would get a chance to upload the images of his/her works. Then there would be option for adding price, postal change (FedEx, DHL, UPS local EMS and so on). When someone would purchase something then the amount could be divided in two parts. XX% of the total income could go to the owner of the art work and the rest YY% could go to the account of CharuKala Institute as a service charge or so.

Globally web 2.0 sites like Flickr are doing wonders for the art and photography world. We can replicate the same model here.

Be the best transporter!

Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is the best transporter. People can hire him out as a mercenary “transporter” who moves goods. Frank is the best in the business and he has never broken the rules. One of his rules is to transport things in due time and safely, without asking questions. That’s why he is known as the best in the business. Well it’s all about movie stuffs. But you can also be the transporter in real life – be the best in moving among the maze we call Dhaka. All we need is a little thing called “membership system”.

In our country, to move from one city to another city bus service is one of the major transports. What we do is just purchase the tickets and ride on the bus. But when occasions/holidays come, we see the real rush. People even don’t get a single ticket sometimes, not to mention the problem of standing in long cues and not getting tickets. What if we change this process to make the thing easier?

Introducing membership system in transport business. Each member will get an ID number. So that people can book their tickets over the net or through SMS. People even don't have to come to the office and stay in line to book tickets. This idea will help the company to implement the power of technology to satisfy the customers. Another thing that can be done for is to add a “mileage” option. If it can be done 50000 miles up in the air, it can be done in the road and highways as well. Regular travelers can be offered an extra ride without paying for the trip. This offer will motivate the travelers to get this advantage. Thus the company will get more loyal customers.

So why won’t you take this chance and be the very first one to evaluate such services to be the best transporter?

What Spiderman can do, Superman can't

Your brand must connect to the audience and your audience must identify with the brand. And that is where your brand personality can play a big role.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is brand personality?

Lets see an example of our favorite local super heroes and in terms of their box value. In recent times all 3 major super heroes – Batman, Spiderman and Superman had a movie released. But not all of their box office fate was the same. While Spiderman 1,2 and 3 all three of them have written and re-written box office records – Batman Begins and Superman returns have not reached the height Spiderman has set. Although there are many reasons behind it ( fantastic marketing super distribution of Sony pictures) – one stand out reason was how much the audience can identify with the characters.

Superman is an alien from outer space and have problems with kryptonite. Batman is filthy rich and is trying to come in terms with his dark side. Both these brand characters have personality traits that mass people can never identify with. But think of your friendly neighborhood hero Spiderman. He is an average guy whose problems include conflict between work and social responsibility and frequently have girl troubles. Plus, he seems more like a naïve person who is trying to do good for himself and people he loves in his own way – rather than an infallible super hero. Now that, many people can identify with.

If your audience can identify and empathize with your brand through its personality – it only assures great success. That’s why its not a co-incidence that the success of these 3 movies are related to the brand appeal of each of these characters. They are very much related.

So now, on a scale of 1 to 10, how important do you think your brand personality is?

Shahriar Amin is the creator of the first brand related blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com ), where he disburses brand marketing knowledge for Bangladeshi business students and local small and medium sized businesses in general

Silky Kumar and the scent of desire

For those who thought traditional advertising is the only way forward, Axe and MTV has shown a masterclass execution.

For a few weeks, people were intrigued by this “Silky Kumar” character. Here is this whacky looking singer, who is a self-proclaimed superstar, appearing in MTV singing catchy tunes and giving interviews. Media was a-buzz with intrigue, who is this Silky Kumar?

As it turned out, Silky Kumar is a fictitous singer / character created by Hindustan lever and Mtv, to create hype around their brand Axe. As we all so fondly know, Axe is all about turning the heads and hearts of the opposite sex. That is what their brand promise has been consistently for some time now. This great campaign just took that concept to a next level by creating a fictitious character and song, based on the same concept - creating appeal to the fairer sex.

For all those who want to study the effect of “branded content” and how its done - check out the music video of Silky Kumar called “Scent of desire” in Youtube.

Shahriar Amin is the creator of the first brand related blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com ), where he disburses brand marketing knowledge for Bangladeshi business students and local small and medium businesses in general

Have your brand dressed up in the occasion

Brand can make people laugh or it can make people sad. We like to shake our hands with good brands and we like to say goodbye to the bad brands. So we can say, brand is like a human being.

As we people have characters which reflect us, so the brands have the same thing which reflect the brands as well. If we can change our clothes then the brands can do the same. If we look at the Google, we would find that in the various occasions Google modify their logo to let the people feel the taste of that occasion. So the MTV do. They even go for a project which is called MTV Hats (Header Art Treatments).

So, in Bangladesh we should do such activity to make our brands more visible and more cultural.

Good things should come in small(er) packages

One of the great flaws of marketing is its tendency to stereotype. In the name of mass marketing, we create and indulge in the assumption that a huge group of people basically think and react to same stimuli alike. But if one has some practical knowledge about direct selling and research, then he can point it out that its hardly the case.

Take for example, the notion of having a family package. For the typical FMCG company the family package will cater to a family of at least 3 (Male, female, child). For the typical real estate developer, the target family comprises of at least 4 ( Hence we have the 3 bedroom flats in abundance). Any middle income newly wed couple will second my idea about how difficult it is to rent a flat within their limited means. Reason? We still think about the extended family of the 80s when our parents used to believe that “cheley hok, meye hok, duty sontan e jotheshto”. But the more relevant question might be is that what this generation believe?

But how about the family of 2? Why cant there be products or packaging options that will cater to the need of two - be it the newly weds or comprising of 1 career woman + 1 supportive husband? Why cant there be 1 bedroom appartments focusing on this target group only? Why cant there be mini-family packages of noodles rather than having one BIG one for the extended family?

Why cant we think niche or think outside the conventional?

The questions linger. And for now, it is safe to assume that the marketer who is obsessed with the stereotypical definitions of “family packs”, will miss the bus. The definition of family has changed from the grandparents era to the mom-pop era. And another shift is only a matter of time.

Shahriar Amin is a full time brand enthusiast who is the creator of the first brand blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com/) where he disburses brand related knowledge for Bangladeshi students and businesses

Doing the right thing vs. doing the job

Doing the job
A customer comes to you ( you being a customer service representative) and says he has a problem with your product. You hear his problem and tell him back that since the warranty policy does not cover the fault of the product, you can do nothing about it. Then you say “Sorry” with smile ( No matter what, SMILE…thats what Customer Service trainers would say). Of course.

Doing the right thing
A customer comes to you and says he has a problem with your product. You acknowledge first that its definitely your fault, not the customers. And you do everything within and outside your power to fix the problem.

The second scenario is what customer service is all about. The first one however, is what we experience day in day out.

This is a perfect example of how “Not my job” and “Just doing my job” mentality is hurting the company. No matter where you are and what you do, always do the right thing. Never just do your job.

Shahriar Amin is a full time brand enthusiast who is the creator of the first brand blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com) where he disburses brand related knowledge for Bangladeshi students and businesses

Marlboro Friday and the longevity of branding

There was a moment in history, when there was a huge roar that Branding was dead. This moment in history is known as “Marlboro Friday”. As per Wikipaedia,

“Marlboro Friday happened on April 2, 1993 when Philip Morris announced a 20% price cut to their Marlboro cigarettes to fight back against the bargain brand competitors who were increasingly eating into their market share. As a result, Philip Morris’s stock took a major dive, along with the share value of other household brands including Heinz, Coca Cola and RJR Nabisco Fortune magazine deemed it “the day the Marlboro Man fell off his horse”

Investors interpreted the price slash as an admission of defeat from the Marlboro brand, that Philip Morris could no longer justify its higher price tag and now had to compete with generic brands. Since the Marlboro Man was an image that stood since 1954, it was considered one of the biggest marketing icons. Investors reasoned that to see the Marlboro icon give into a price war, the marketing itself must be ineffective. As a result of plummeting stock value in major American brands, 1993 marked a slight decrease in U.S. ad expenditures. Companies began investing in promotions rather than advertising. In 1983 in the U.S, the average expenditure on marketing was 70% advertising and 20% on promotions, by 1993 it had made a complete turn around, to 70% on promotions and 20% on advertising.

It was the only decrease to occur since 1970. At the time, this event was regarded as signifying “the death of a brand” and the advent of a “value-minded” consumer generation who pay more attention to the real value of products and not the brand names. This view soon proved to be incorrect, with the rest of the decade’s economy being dominated by brands and driven by high-budget marketing campaigns.”

And that more or less laid to rest any doubt over the future of branding internationally. But due to ignorance, most of our local businesses think they can survive in the branding era without branding. We might need the arrival of one such “Marlboro Friday” to put an end to this branding debate once and for all.

Shahriar Amin is a full time brand enthusiast who is the creator of the first brand blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com) where he disburses brand related knowledge for Bangladeshi students and businesses

Are you in Facebook?

It seems the world has suddenly booked itself a date at Faceboook! A few years ago the buzz word for the buzzing people trying to gather a few networks and love interests in Dhaka was "whats your asl?" Now, its "Are you in Facebook?".

For all the ignorant people on this side of Brahmaputra, social networking sites like Facebook is here in Bangladesh and its here to stay.

Your long lost friends, relations living abroad, common interest group members from african nations - all available in one place called facebook. Its where you show your face and get booked for popularity! If you think facebook is a global phenomenon with limited or no influence in Bangladesh, think again. With millions Bangladeshi members - Facebook in Bangladesh is the biggest tech lifestyle trend to emerge for a long time.

And like all smart trend watchers, Brand Managers should lick their fingers with this new found gold mine of an opportunity. The smartest brand decision of the year for them might be to use “Facebook” as a media to reach to 12-35 target group. After all, an average youth is more likely to spend more time in Facebook than in front of a local TV channel. If so, which one makes sense as a media - TV or Facebook?

The tricky part is how to use it. After all, direct advertisements are not allowed (yet) in facebook nor can local business afford it. So an effective way can be to form a forum or group around your product / brand and invite people to join. For example - the Brand Manager of Nescafe can form a forum called “Getting Jazzy in Dhaka” and it can be a forum for all young executives who are jazz music lovers. The Brand Manager can be the admin and all the members can be the target recipient. Through carefully crafted messages, forum postings, games, applications etc. the essence and message of Nescafe brand can be delivered to very loyal group of people. Thus this can be a brand experience extended.

This is just a raw example, but i am sure the brand managers will be smart enough to recognize the opportunity.

Shahriar Amin is a full time brand enthusiast who is the creator of the first brand blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com/) where he disburses brand related knowledge for Bangladeshi students and businesses

Building up awareness against smoking in the public place

It is a very common scenario that many people smoke in the public place. But our Government has forbidden it. And people do such unlawful act in regular basis without respecting the law. What can we do to make them feel that they are doing such activity which is against the law? We could build up awareness. TVC, radio ad or newspaper ad could help us in doing so. But we know these mediums are expensive and these mediums may not always target such group. What else we can do to resolve this issue. Well, at this moment, Government placed a message on the pack of tobacco; that is: Smoking causes a stroke. Now if we can tie up another line with that message: It is unlawful act to smoke in the public place. Then it could work out. So our Government should think about this idea and go for its implementation.

When there will no BHEJAL in our pockets, then we will fly in the Rocket

Bhejal people, bhejal foods, bhejal things - so many bhejals are all around us. We people really need to get rid of it. Our Government’s policies against bhejal cannot go far away. There are a lot of limitations behind the Government’s policies.

We know ISO, Superbrands, VeriSign (for digital security certificate) and so on which came from the international arena. Why don’t a local private company come and win the heart of the people with trust? That company will strictly maintain the quality of local products/services. Why do people go today for ISO, Superbrands and VeriSign’s certificates? Because they created such image inside the consumers and then the consumers feel free to select the certified product/service by those companies. If a Bangladeshi company aim to be such company, then people must welcome them. But they all will have to do is to win the heart of the consumers. If a local company can manage the quality, then why should we go to those foreign companies to buy their certificates with huge money? May be for exporting the product foreign company’s certificates are needed. It is true that we don’t export everything. So, what we don’t export, those can be certified by that local company. It could be certified product or service. For example, “X” restaurant is achieved “NO BHEJAL” certificate. Then people will go more to that restaurant. Of course, this certificate will add a brand value to that restaurant to get more customers. But in this case, honesty is really needed for the certificate issuer and the company should keep it in their mind, “Just don’t sell the certificates; instead, let them achieve”.

This way could help us to be a BHEJALBIHIN country. And then we can fly in the rocket as we have no BHEJAL in our pockets.

Harry Potter and the wizard that got away

At 12.00 am July 21, 2007, we will witness something extraordinary, the like of which may never be seen in our life time.

Harry Potter is officially the new $15 billiion man. Publishers, movie studios, theme park owners, children, young at hearts, toy marketers, packaged foods marketers - the enthusiasm and money altogether has reached an alltime high.

So how much is Harry Potter really worth?

A calculation done has provided startling results. According to the AC Nielsen research

1. Author J.K. Rowling herself is worth $1 billion
2. Harry Potter himself is now the 30th most wealthy individual in USA, even wealthier than the likes of Micheal Dell (CEO Dell) and Eric Schmidt (CEO Google)
3. Some of his grand revenue sources are - Advertising ($380 million), DVD sales ($1 billion +), packaged good licensing ($11.8 million), music ($13 million+), books ($9 billion), movies ($4.4 billion) etc.

With so much hoopla around the boy wonder, what are we doing in our country to capitalise?

While an extravaganza like this is a marketers dream, its sad to say that we have completely missed the Potter bus here in Bangladesh. Sure, Etc. and some book stores are doing in house Potter fair, competitions and book promotions, but that is definitely not enough. Here are some of the missed opportunities

1. Harry Potter has replaced "Dalim Kumar" in childrens heart, but english illiteracy is a challenge. Any book publisher could have acquired the license of Harry Potter latest installment, and go for Bengali translation (not pirated). This could have increased the appeal to those children who would love to read Potter books but cant do so because of english illiteracy. (Criminal company - Sheba Prokashoni!! Where are you?)

2. There is this big hype about what happened to Harry Potter at the end and who are the two person who died in the book. Marketers could have capitalized by running contests for people who can correctly guess what happens in the book and reward them accordingly.

3. TV channels or Star Cineplex could have bought the right of old Potter movies and shown them during this time. As all children are in the mood of revising old stories before diving into the new book, this could have been an wonderful opportunity

4. Bangladeshi bags and other merchandise owners could have also tagged along, by selling Harry Potter licensed goods.

5. Some event management company could have organized a big Potter Event in Wonderland by transforming it into a Harry Potter theme park for 1 day, inviting children from all over Bangladesh to join and celebrate

6. Some newspaper or magazine could have published a special Potter supplement and sell it separately in news-stands from the day of the launch.

These are just random thoughts. But i am sure with some conscious group efforts, something much more grand could have been done here. What remains to be seen is if we learn from such missed opportunities. Our neighbours have made big strides in aligning themselves with global events like this. How long will it take for us?

Shahriar Amin is a full time brand enthusiast who is the creator of the first brand blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com) where he disburses brand related knowledge for Bangladeshi students and businesses

Humor Me

Once upon a time, some brilliant marketer came out with the concept that with catchy songs and out of this world dance routines, the Bengali imagination can be captured. That began the never ending era of “Song and Dance” TV advertisements - one whose glorious journey still exists even when we run deep at the heart of 2007.

Tracking the history of advertisements in this country, it is common knowledge that we simply love our jingles - starting from Joni print saree ads to Goalini condensed milk. But with too much indulgence in one dish, comes that sour taste in the mouth. And some assumptions - aren’t all ads looking too similar? Are’nt we really getting predictable and boring? In the name of advertising, are we really selling or creating awareness among people or are we just in entertainment business?

Which leads to the biggest question of all - is there life after the “song and dance, jingle based” advertisements in Bangladesh?

The answer of all those questions, by all means, is yes.

But how can we replace jingle-based ads, since its so popular? The simple strategy will be to find something totally different and make it likeable. In the midst of 10 jingle based ads, even one direct, boring public announcement sounds appealing and stands out. In India, in the midst of 10 ads endorsed by movie stars and cinema icons, one ad that does the exact opposite stands out. The trick therefore again - is to find something different and appealing.

Which brings another very important question - what do we like as much as songs and catchy tunes?

There is a number of possibilities. But nothing stands out more than humor - the best medicine that doctors recommend and advertisers follow the world over. If we believe in the power of globalization and taking stock of whats happening around the world, in Bangladesh humor is the new jingle.

It will be shocking to compare what percentage of ads globally are based on some form of humor and what percentage of ours have a humorous touch in it. The gap will be so big that in itself is funny enough to create an advertisement. The reasons that are frequently cited and the misconceptions are varied.

1. Bangladeshi people do not appreciate the delicate humor. They have to be tickled to laugh and enjoy

2. It is difficult to find good comedians with strong writing skills or visual styles

3. People find humor to be offensive and not suitable for mass

4. The illetarate people in the villages might not “Get the humor”

Its fair to say none of the above mentioned reasons hold ground.

Humor itself has the power of recall, like none. It will be an easy experiment to validate this statement - simply think of some ads you recall from last month form satellite TVs or the last advertisements you forwarded to your colleagues. Like i said, nothing quite generates the recall and involvement like humorous advertisements.

Yes, we do have some memorable humorous advertisements - but ours is based on physical humor, the slapstick comedy as it is known. We are ardent believers that to make Bengali laugh we need to fire the big guns, not the feather touch. The delicate, corny side of humor is still mostly an unchartered market. With the ever rising Generation X, this is the kind of humor that can do wonders for our advertising industry.

Shahriar Amin is a full time brand enthusiast who is the creator of the first brand blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com) where he disburses brand related knowledge for Bangladeshi students and businesses

We need a "Top Chart" to facilitate customer choice

Who can deny the power of NY Times best seller list?

The rise and fall of so many authors can be contributed to that short list. If books sounds obvious how about Billboard top chart? This music chart has been the overarching authority of defining the kings and paupers of music for decades. In short, if the song is in the Billboard chart then it must be good, hence downloadable.

It doesnt stop there. We consult IMDB for renting and buying movies. We check the box office numbers before deciding on which movie to check out in theaters. Our obsession with “Top Lists” stems from one simple premise that benefits both supply side and demand side - it helps us simplify our choices and gives us some much needed PR push.

With that established, i present a criminal situation of not having single, reliable top chart for any categories here in Bangladesh. Movies? No. Music? No. There are some so-called top charts here and there, found in magazines and papers. But they lack the prpoer sampling scope or the validity in technique and can never work like a proper “Top Chart”. And if asked, the cause of this absence will be attributed to difficulat mechanism.

The mechanism of creating such a chart is not that complicated. We just have to have a very transparent sales receipt reporting and acumulating system. With presence of such value adding softwares, its an “up for grab” opportunity for any media house. In recent times we have seen plenty of newspapers and TV channels popping out here and there. In such a hyper-competitive scenario, introducing such “Top Charts” can be a fantastic differentiating point for media houses as well as increase its readership and TRP.

But more importantly, we as customers will be greatly benefitted from this. With the number of categories, products and options increasing in geometric progression everyday - presence of such a filtering process that can tell us what is good and what is not good - is the just the thing required.

Shahriar Amin is a full time brand enthusiast who is the creator of the first brand blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com) where he disburses brand related knowledge for Bangladeshi students and businesses