Delivering News with a twist

Whoever thought delivering news can never be hip should visit Canada.

At least for a long time, we thought delivering news can never be a ”glam” thing. But in comes ETV and a lot of our old notions were thrown out the window. ETV showed how by showing great presentation style, professionalism and most importantly “by doing something new”, you can capture the heart of the audience. But sadly, it has gone one dimensional since then. Right now we are in the middle of a major media boom in our country, but just about all news we see today is an “extended carbon copy” of the ETV style.

So whats the new thingy? Where is the new innovation coming in? Or more importantly do we require to differentiate news?

To take the last question first - hell yeah! When just about 10 channels are fighting for the news viewership, differentiation is the only way they will esnure that audience will switch to their channel for that “extra”. And here’s a cracking example (and also the reason why i talked about going to Canada in the beginning) of how good differentiation can sky rocket the popularity of a news channel.

There is a news channel in Canada which Time magazine said “offers the best international coverage on this side of BBC”. This channel broadcast news to 172 nations with a potential weekly audience of 34 million in US, UK, Australia and other countries. The name of the channel is Naked News.

Their newscasters are like any typical news casters in broadcast TV, but they do offer a “different viewing reason”. With a tag-line “There is nothing to hide” - the newscasters of this channel discuss politics, entertainment, sports - all of them - naked.

Now why would someone watch and rely on news delievered from naked people? Well you have to see it to really understand. But the ratings are sky high and research shows that people believe their news as much (if not more) as any other news channel.

Now i am not saying that the newscasters of our country have to do something that radical to gain TRP, but surely they can innovate. For example, one thing that is always irritating about news is that they dont show much passion. One minute they are showing the death of a young girl and the next minute they switch off to something entertaining - in the blink of an eye and always in the same tone.

So if one of the channels train their news casters to show personal enthusiasm, and treat different types of news differently and with lots of emotion and adopt a tag-line like “We feel what you feel” - wouldnt that differentiate that TV channel from the others? What do you think Channel I, N, R, E, and 1?

Shahriar Amin is the creator of the first brand related blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com).

Crimebusting, NY style

The transparency and corruption index just came out. But what if we do a safety index? After the tragic killing of a teacher of NSU, we need to ask ourselves – how much worse can it get? Is pepper spray the future of our handbag content? Even more important….is there a way out?
If you are an ex-mayor and an ex-head of police department of New York city, you would say an emphatic yes. Crime can be stopped by being innovative.


In the early 90s crime in New York city was on the up like the popularity of an attractive cheerleader. It was everywhere. Everyday there was mugging, killing, gang warfare, rapes. It was a crazy time in the vicinity of Time Square. Then all of a sudden the crime rate dropped. The question in every thankful lip was what happened.


Well what happened can be explained by a theory called “Broken Windows” theory, which is the brainchild of criminologist James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. They argued that crime is the inevitable result of disorder. If a window in a house is broken for a long time, when people simply walk by it they will think that none cares. Soon more and more windows will be broken and that sense of anarchy will spread from the house to the streets. In terms of crime, it means

1. Simple petty crimes like drawing graffity in walls and groping can lead to violent crimes like killing during mugging.

2.Crime is contagious just like fashion.


Rudolph Giuliani (Mayor), David Gunn (Subway director, New York Transit Authority) and William J. Bratton (Head of Police) applied this “Broken Window” theory in New York city. What they did at times seemed more puzzling and trivial than logical.


The police chief traveled in subway trains for hours looking for clues for minor crimes
He focused on minor crimes like people who traveled without fare, people who just pop-up during signal to wash the window of the cars and demand money, people who peed in the streets etc.


He focused on efficiency like getting mobile police vans. Rather than taking the criminals to the police headquarters, he took the quarters to the criminal – and thus saved a lot of time, which the police officers used to crack down more criminals


And it worked like magic. The means may be confusing, but the results are fantastic. None thought crime rates would drop in NY, but it did. So what do we learn from this example that we can apply?


Minor crimes leads to violent crimes. So if we can put an end to minor crimes like peeing in streets, groping girls during shopping we can put a brake on more violent crimes
It is not needed to crack down every criminal. You just need to send a signal that the Police is alert and patrolling. That alone will put off the criminals

Even with limited resources you can be very effective. By being innovative and efficient, even with limited budget and resources we can make headway against crime.


Shahriar Amin is the creator of the first brand related blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com), where he disburses and discusses brand related knowledge for the benefits of Bangladeshi business and students.

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

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