Suresh Dinakaran's Blog

Why brands could do with a bit of hypothesis? Go Beyond (S)lip Service on Corporate Social Responsibility!

Corporate social responsibility for brands and organisations is no longer an obligation. Its a compelling strategy. It’s a no brainer. Over the years and especially in the recent past, brands that have known to be doing good to society and its constituents have consistently done well and build a larger and more loyal following of customers.  And that, in this era of price loyalty being > brand loyalty, is certainly a big take away for smart brands.

So, given the positive rub offs that compassionate capitalism brings to the table, lets imagine a few scenarios where brands of the day(especially the ones that are in a definite position to do so) indulge in some serious introspection(soul searching if you will) and decide to disrupt their existing mold. Readers please note that this is purely hypothesis and we are taking the liberty of conceiving a ‘ what if ‘ scenario. We are talking brands and corporates picking up the threads on social responsibility, sharing and caring.

I will begin with one of my favorite subjects: credit cards. I do not claim to be an expert on the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, Insurance) space but here is my two cents worth. Lets imagine a situation whereby the likes of a Mastercard or Visa, two of the biggest global brands in the credit card industry decide to recalibrate their line and approach of communication. Just go in with the honest intention of meaning, doing well and being social caring and responsible. (We are aware that the credit card industry is driven and conditioned by their partner/issuing banks to drive more numbers, more interest charges, late payment fees, interest upon interest etc etc all seemingly communicated in the ‘ Welcome Kit ‘ folder in an unfriendly barely readable 6.5 font size). In the light of such an eco system, what if MasterCard or Visa initiate a communication strategy that says ‘ Do Not Use Credit Cards ‘( I am aware that some of you might already be thinking that I have gone senile but do hear me out!). The objective from the brands’ perspective is to communicate that credit cards are not be used in the manner that a large majority of customers use them leading to debt traps. The communication can be consistently put across by either Visa or Mastercard educating and encouraging people to use credit cards the right way. Will it lead to loss of revenues for the issuers? Am not so certain but it will definitely bring in a huge amount of goodwill to the brands. Not just that, this honest, transparent socially responsible approach could also broaden the universe of users and bring in more customers who were hitherto wary of using credit cards.  The end could very well justify the means.

Lets take up another potential situation with the darling of the technology brand space: Apple, arguably the most valuable company in the world. Here again, we are aware of Apple’s skirmishes with questionable labour practices at the companies it outsources it’s hardware manufacturing to (FoxConn), the use of certain minerals and more pertinently its insistence on using proprietary technology (in an era of open source and easy standardization) to keep its profit margins really high. Not to mention its very cheap design for their power chords(certainly less power to them!). Now, lets turn the tables and look at a scenario where the world’s biggest and most profitable technology company decides to use its resources to deliver a consistent, satisfactory experience to its customer base, end to end. Become also the number one global brand to walk the walk on corporate social responsibility. Can you fathom the huge surge in goodwill equity that the Apple brand will reap from millions of its loyal customers the world over? There is a great opportunity for the brand to become the apple of every stakeholder’s eye!

Carrying on in the same vein, could we expect more humanity and compassion from airline brands especially when they have to repatriate dead bodies. Based on load and carrying capacity, could the near and dear ones of the deceased expect a really preferential rate and treatment in their hour of grief and get treated as humans and not ‘ premium perishable cargo ‘ that can be milked for all that its worth. The airline brands can give a respectable send off to the departed soul and in the process their brand reputation and goodwill can go sky high. Being a socially responsible and caring brand can only augment market share, customer engagement and loyalty. CSR can also mean Corporate Social Return for brands if done the right, sincere way.

More and more brands are seeing and reaping the benefits of by design genuine benevolence as customers recognize and respect their social efforts and reward them with more loyalty and positive WOM(Word Of Mouth). That being the case, what are you waiting for? Social Responsibility and Corporates: The Twain Has to Meet!

ENDS

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Why Demographics May Be Irrelevant for Brands: Welcome to a Post Demographic (Geography is History) Era!

Historically, brands and marketers have sworn its allegiance to demographics. Like the proverbial Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. But, there just might be a twist in the tale. As quoted by Trendwatching: You’re not the only one who’s confused by consumer behavior. Consumers themselves aren’t behaving as they ‘should’.

In a post demographic era of consumerism, is it time to throw out the traditional (and tired, tired and rusted) demographic models of consumer behavior?

Lets look at some really interesting snippets that break all moulds of convention:

In the UK, women now account for the majority of video game players, and there are more gamers aged over 44 than under 18: IAB (INTERNET ADVERTISING BUREAU), SEPTEMBER 2014

Twitter’s fastest growing demographic between 2012 and 2013 was the 55-64 year age bracket, growing 79%: BUFFER, JULY 2013

Asilo Padre Cacique, a retirement home in Porto Alegre, Brazil, hosted an activity day for its elderly residents in September 2014, featuring a skateboard exhibition and graffiti artists. Yes, you read right: skateboard exhibition and graffiti artists.

“If you look at the list of the 1,000 favourite artists for 60-year-olds and the 1,000 favourite artists for 13-year-olds, there is a 40% overlap.”: GEORGE ERGATOUDIS (HEAD OF MUSIC, BBC RADIO 1), MAY 2014

All of the above may seem disconnected but it does give us a peep into where consumerism is headed. And it is not at the happy intersection of demographic centred models which brands have comfortably honed over the past several decades. This is a new path to tread. Consumption patterns are no longer defined by ‘traditional’ demographic segments such as age, gender, location, income, family status and more. In this era of post demographic consumerism, brands are realizing that people across all age groups, across multiple markets are constructing their own identities and that too more freely than ever before.

Yes, we still do have our usual suspects: the early adopters of products and services that brands love: Young, affluent, influential, loves experimenting and burdened with lesser commitments. This is (as empirically proven) the ideal scenario.

But, as more and more brands and marketers wake up to the new reality: that any and all revolutionary – or simply just compelling – innovations will be rapidly adopted by, and/or almost instantly reshape the expectations of, any and all demographics. Without bias or prejudice. One size need not fit all or it just could!!

The always on Society is now too fluid, ideas now too easily available, the market now too efficient, the risk and cost of trying new things now too low (led by the digital world, but increasingly the case for physical products too) for this not to be the case. Let us understand why.

Today’s consumers – of all demographics and in all markets – increasingly buy, source and use products and services from the same mega-brands: Apple, Facebook, Amazon (the technology sector is especially universal), IKEA, McDonald’s, Uniqlo, Nike and more.

The ubiquity and collective familiarity with these global mega-brands, when combined with the global reach of consumer information, has also created if not a shared consciousness then certainly a new level of POST-DEMOGRAPHIC shared experience for consumers, from 16 to 60 and beyond and from Boston to Beijing, Capetown to Melbourne.

So what should executives and brand marketers look at doing to come to speed with this new reality. Well there are a few innovation opportunities waiting to be grasped:

Fall in love with the new normal: Embrace and celebrate new racial, social, cultural and sexual norms.

Let heritage not be a baggage: Be prepared to re-examine and even overturn your brand heritage.

Inorganic demographic pollination: Go beyond your comfort demographic zones. Explore foreign demographics hitherto not tapped into for ideas and inspiration.

Borrow from the Long Tail effect: Explore smaller niches of interest. There is serious potential resident there.

As we move into the future, successful products, services and brands will transcend and move beyond their initial demographics almost instantaneously. Brand executives who continue to attempt to navigate using demographic maps, with borders defined by age, gender, location, income will be under-prepared for the speed, magnitude and direction of change.

There is no doubt that understanding consumers’ needs and wants remains critical (Consumer Insight & Market Research companies will go out of business otherwise, isn’t it?).However, it will be those that take a broad view and learn from innovations that are delighting consumers in seemingly dissimilar or even opposing demographics that will succeed, regardless of which ‘traditional’ demographic(s) they serve.

Demographics are dead. Long live demographics!!

Why the pandemonium? $26 Billion Dollars in business at stake for ad agencies. So why not?

Coke, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, P&G, Mondelez International: These mega brands will ring many a bell. And to many global ad agency networks alarm bells. What with almost US$26 Billion (based on a Morgan Stanley report released last month in June) of ad agency business all set to switch places this very year. Madison Avenue is going mad in the quest for the right strategy: defence or offense? Either way, there is no sitting on the fence!

This battle for clients and billings, has been dubbed “Mediapalooza” or“Reviewageddon” by media and industry insiders. (You can bet the industry is never shy on jargon or coinage). But the time has come now for Madison Avenue advertising czars to truly go beyond word play!

Digital advertising is having a field day and there is speculation that the entire pandemonium begin at its door. With the accelerating shift to Digital Advertising and the real time measurability and analytics that it provides to brands and marketers, more bang for the advertising buck has taken on a completely new dimension.

Clients use the ‘ account under review ‘ strategy to get its incumbent agency or its successor to tighten up and augment value and save on costs. Consolidation and mergers will pick up steam in the coming days as agencies scramble to defend, acquire or lose clients who are demanding far more than they have conventionally done (and getting it). Agencies are getting ready to both hit and take the hit.

The stakes are high and the larger they are, the higher it gets. Its never got any bigger for the likes of WPP, Publicis, Omnicom, Dentsu, Havas and the like. So as they court each other to outdo, outbid, outperform, they have to remain on top of the ball and use kid gloves to retain or win clients who seem to be otherwise developing the cold feet syndrome.

So fasten your seat belts.The next few weeks will see incredible activity as ad agencies prepare, pitch, poach, preach, promise…the 5Ps of a different kind! Till then, peace be upon all of us.

 

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Not sure what to define this as – herd mentality or in this case heard mentality would be more like it as the brands in question are two leading FM radio stations in the UAE. Catering to a large S Asian expat population. Both being very blase’ and open about their being the No 1 Bollywood Radio Station in the UAE. Two No 1’s. In the same market. That’s too much to take. I know it takes two to tango but this certainly is not something to go (Radio) gaga over I dare say.

Some time back I had written about how brands knowingly seem to be indifferent to differentiation (http://bit.ly/1BUtPIB) and the trend seems to be continuing. What are these brands trying to broadcast? That we are all the same and therefore we are ‘unique’ or our audience is unique and therefore we can offer them more of the ‘same’- am finding it very difficult to tune in to this highly disturbing frequency. We are there to be the same rather than dare to be different.The prevailing wave is all hot air and the sooner the air waves get rid of this baggage, the better. Missing the (Bolly)wood for the trees!

There is comfort in sameness. There is happiness in routine. There (seemingly) is a threat in newness. More about it in one of my past blog posts http://bit.ly/1FGtN1C

The key stakeholders in this exercise are the listeners and the advertisers/sponsors who want to reach out to these listeners in the hope they listen. But given the situation, it just may not be sweet music to any of their ears. When monotony is stereotyped, no Dolby system in the world can make an impact. The toss up now is between sound of music and sound of fury. Take your pick, if it does not prick you!

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This could come as a surprise. In a world besieged with sales, special promotions and further reductions, there are quite a few brands across the world that are taking a stand far further from convention….a stand hitherto non existent….no more consumer holidays. Only people’s holidays. Brands increasingly are restraining consumers from buying them today. It’s asking people to reimagine a world where disposable goods are well indispensable. Brands are asking for your pledge. Recycle, reuse, and replenish the world! The time for now is always.

An ever growing number of  brands are actually rewarding their customers for not buying them. Yes, not buying them. They are aware that potential consumers remain just that – potential. Smart brands know that one-time monumental purchases are less valuable than passive awareness of the brand 24/7, and that the real goal is to keep consumers continually in the brand flow. Aggressively avoiding sales was once a tactic reserved for the likes of Hermès or LVMH, but now every brand can afford the luxury of unavailability. Scarcity drives exclusivity and builds up brand desire.The clock keeps ticking favourably for the brand, all through.

Leading US based trend forecasting firm KHOLE calls these strategies proLASTination. What it does is it dissolves temporal delineation by establishing checkpoints that move with the consumer through time. These fluid strategies de-emphasize consumption and instead seek perpetual consumer engagement. An antidote to modern day rampant consumerism.

More and more brands that confidently suspend customer purchases will only increase in the future. That’s what the forecast is. They know that by the time ready-to-wear clothes are ready to wear, they’re already out of style. Rushing to the horizon line won’t get you there any faster. So, proLASTination is here to last and more and more brands are sure to come under it’s ambit. Let the good times for brands….last…well proLAST!

 

On a recent overseas trip, had some (customary) waiting to do upon landing at Bombay airport, so decided( after the usual polite skirmish with sweat, suede and swear words) to be an inno scent bystander next to the baggage carousel as it aimlessly (and somewhat harmlessly) went around in circles. So here’s the 360 Degree on it, motivated, well, by bags of time!

– The absolute nonchalance with each and every piece of baggage gets treated once it finds place on the carousel has convinced me that the carousel is the only place in the world that is completely agnostic to brands and their status in the pecking order. Tumi, Louis Vitton, Delsey, Samsonite, American Tourister, VIP, BOSS, Echolac, China Mall…all came (and went) alike. The message going was loud and clear. Rest in (One)Piece…till such time your owner gets a handle on you!

– Nowhere will you see a better study in contrast. The bags taking it’s own sweet time to get to where it ought to, unabashedly relaxed, clinically unrepentant, approaching arrogance ( I am the BOSS here, you better give me the VIP treatment), do not intrude on my hammock style existence…..On the other side, the owners: anxious, impatient, irritated, hopeful, worried, chaos personified.

– The bags I tell you love drama (and some gymnastics as well). Every now and then they bring you to the edge as they salsa, spin and swirl but manage to stay on top of the carousel. The Art of New Balance. That in the process they knock off a few socks from ankles and uncles is a different story. Really edge of the seat stuff!

–  As you take your monster off the carousel knocking off a few patellas in the process(with a little help from 8 people close to you, 4 of whom were standing on your toes unrepentantly), you just want the trolley to glide through the sea of humanity only to realise that this piece of convenience(supposedly) has no sense of direction. As you push North, it heads East. So much for where there’s a wheel, there’s a way! And in any case, SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) I guess are meant to function only in Governments!

– The area surrounding the carousel is actually a medical practitioner’s delight. The ideal place to easily diagnose the following including but not restricted to: Slip Disc, Parkinsons, Blood Pressure, Arthritis, Extreme Body Odour, Colour Blindness…is it blue or green? And the real owner sees red in the bargain. If you don’t mind, could you please help me offload my bag?(I travelled light this time)-it’s just 87 kgs( any more and she would have had to hire a cargo plane).

– Do you think the carousel is an ideal candidate for acute nausea? Imagine going around in circles, hour after hour, day after day- 360 Degrees and the emergence of the Circular Economy is all very fine but doing it 365 days a year?? Where does it begin? And where does it end? Methinks it’s happy to be a spin doctor! Or should we call it a victim of circum stance?

– So the next time you travel, carry XS baggage(Armani, A R Mani, Mr Moneybags etc pl note). Xtra Small. Don’t break the carousel.Give the carousel a break…unless of course you want to see some Delsey, all at sea! Boss, it makes no sense Tumi!

 

Circa 2015. March 26th. The day of the first ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 semi final between co hosts New Zealand and strong hopefuls South Africa. Without a shadow of doubt, in retrospect, the match of the World Cup. No match before or after was even a remote patch on this absolute humdinger!

For the privileged 60 thousand odd spectators who watched it at the ground, it was a potboiler, end to end. For the not so privileged millions across the globe watching it on television the end well…could have better ended. They definitely got the wrong end of the stick. And I talk as a neutral, so one can imagine the plight of the audience following either the Kiwis or the incredible sporting ambassadors from the Rainbow Nation. Here is why:

The second last ball of the match. New Zealand needing 6 to win, 5 to tie. The price tag- a coveted place in the finals of the World Cup, a first for both teams- A tie was enough for the Kiwis to go through by virtue of their win quotient in the tournament. Just as Grant Elliot in all his serene composure deposited Dale Steyn into the stands to clinch a truly remarkable win for the Kiwis, millions of South African (and neutrals supporting them) hearts sank. Scenes of utter devastation plagued the faces of Mornie Morkel(a 6 foot 7 inch man sobbing his life away), AB De Villiers(couldn’t have happened after all that!), Du Flessis( stunned disbelief) and some of the other South African players. Just as the television audience was participating in this huge tidal wave of unadulterated human emotion that sport brought about in all it’s glorious uncertainty, and sought a place to fray hyper active goose pimples, the broadcaster decided to nip it in the bud and inserted a commercial when the audience was very clearly wanting to see the goings on in the field. I understand commercial compulsions with broadcast rights going into the billions, as do smart interruption marketing to ensure maximum eyeballs(hopefully efficacies) but this just did not work in my understanding. The feeling that I had at that time( and I believe it would be similar amongst millions of other viewers on that day) was one of irritation, frustration and pure angst. Completely contrary to the message that was being broadcast by the intruding brand ie of Good Life!

The jury would still be out on whether the brand, by design, with the broadcaster, had pre planned this, without of course knowing how the game will pan out but at that moment on that given day, the message just didn’t sink in. Neither the medium nor the messenger.

The purists say that batting is all about timing but then who is to say brand communication is not?

Over the past few months, most of us would have seen some of UAE’s top furniture brands( 4 of them to be precise) using expensive, premium billboard locations to articulate what seems to be a salute to homogenity ( or is it indifference?). What is baffling is the unabashed comfort(security?) being derived from being no different. Same message, same colour scheme and layout, same discount offer, on the same medium, within the same eco system( all these billboards are within a maximum of 500 metres from each other) and of course talking to the same set of road users on that stretch. And for the same product category.Whew!

All along we were given to understand that differentiation is what separates the men (brand) from the boys. To see that being flouted and consistently so could mean any of the following:

– that this is working( and you better get ready for more of the same). End of debate!

– the rules of brand differentiation have changed and we seem to have missed the bus

– don’t make the folly of investing in ‘ brand strategy ‘– tell it to the birds

– the customer can continue to be taken for granted(discount their sense of intellect as you offer all through the year discounts)

– there is safety in adopting a ‘ herd mentality ‘- even though you might have heard things differently when you studied and deployed branding messages

– in an increasingly commoditised world, communication content or style and brand positioning takes a back seat, if at all

– Within the marketing/branding fraternity, brilliant, out of the box thinkers, end up being ‘ box pushers ‘. What could be the compulsion? Top Lines ? Bottom Lines? Why put your neck on the line? Reckon it’s time to draw the line.

– Increasingly Zero Tolerance to creative risk taking, however calculated and measured it might be. Deliver the expected(not the unexpected!)

– ‘Deja Vu’ is the new normal. Surprise, innovation, creativity…what’s that?

All these brands seem to be ‘ at home ‘ doing this, so, if you are expecting to see some creative brand communication which makes you say ‘ touchwood ‘, you are in for a disappointment.

Sharing that one is well past what has been conventionally defined as an ‘impressionable age’, would be an understatement. But, having said that, the past few months had me having the opportunity to be accessing extremely well written material, which I am happy to be sharing.

Being a sucker for words (apart from being a self claimed wordsmith and copywriter), what jolted me to immediate attention was the title of this book ‘ Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less ‘. Having read it(and forwarded it to more than 100 of my friends and business associates), the least I would want to say is that the book, beautifully put together by Greg McKeown, is essential reading. The book is a gentle yet powerful reminder that we have been(or are) missing the wood for the trees, most of the time. A reality check in an era of virtual dominance. To summarise, what Greg says is that less done better is the best way ahead.

 If logical and numerical sequence is anything to subscribe to, Zero to One is the obvious way to go. Peter Thiel(co founder of PayPal and Palantir and the first outside investor in Facebook apart from funding companies like LinkedIn and SpaceX) has a different take on that. What he says is that when we make something new, we go from zero to one not when you do something that you already know. The act of creation is singular, as is the content of the creation, and the result is something fresh and strange. The book acts as a navigation tool to get there. If a risk taker like Peter Thiel suggests something, it is worth taking up.

 

The difference between helping and selling is just two letters. That’s what Jay Baer articulates in his high utility book ‘ Youtility ‘. Smart marketing is about help not hype. About brands creating content that will be valued and revered by customers. If you sell something, you make a customer today, but if you genuinely help someone, you create a customer for life. In an always on, hyper cluttered marketplace, brands just cannot break through with product messages like they used to. Providing information that is usable helps immensely. For all those brands wanting to create long term and meaningful engagement with their customers, this book is truly ‘ Youtilitarian ‘.

 

 

Seth Godin, Scott Belsky, Sebastin Thrun, Chris Guillebeau, Andy Dunn, Tim O’Reilly and several more of like high pedigree, all in one book, offered as a distilled compendium of actionable, future ready nuggets…how is that for impact? Make Your Mark: The Creative’s Guide To Building A Business With Impact features hard won wisdoms from 21 leading entrepreneurs and experts. Make Your Mark (published by 99U, Behance) arms you with practical insights for building a creative business that will make a lasting impact. So, if you are ready to make a ‘ dent in the universe ‘, this book is for you.

 

Yet another brilliantly coined title pulled me towards the book ‘ Stuffocation ‘by James Wallman, the author tells us through a compelling narrative, why we have had enough of gathering stuff and why we need to accumulate experiences more than ever. It’s a happy confluence of Freakonomics meeting The Tipping Point.

These were some of the ‘read hot‘(pardon the pun) books that I had the privilege of reading the past few weeks and I look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks.

 

 

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