Let it fly…

Let it fly…

Hundred uncertainties could be identified to discard this aircraft’s capabilities to Fly. But, it’s flying…
Let it fly…

Personalities are unique and bestowed by God Himself.(of course He has his own reasons to justify) let’s keep away from being judgmental about their flying capabilities. They will fly, because they are made to FLY 🙂

Caution: this applies only to those people who struggle to make their living in a Eco-system filled with biases.(comparisons, status quo, complexion, physical attributes, verbalization & work style and thousands more…)

Inspired by the movie – Flight (just watched it 🙂 )

Inflight – branding – new ways to promote

I was on my way to Mumbai to attend a Conference at TFMA-MUMBAI – Technology for Marketers and Advertisers.

During my in-flight time, I touched upon a thought…

Take a look at this picture:

This display is present under the cabins above the seating area. I rested my head, eased my seat back and found the display that read ” please turn off…..blah…blah…blah…”

1. I stared at it multiple times
2. The message however remained the same.
3. After some time it changed to displayed another message.
4. And that stayed there for a while, without a flip.

I saw opportunity, or ways to keep the non-sleeping customers alert by looking up and watching the screen play Advertisements.

1. It could be in-flight service promotions
2. It could be external brands displaying their products & services
3. It could be just the brand logos with tag lines flipping
And more…

It’s extra revenue and the ticket fares could drop or serve a free drink to the customer and the customers benefits from this extra revenue through a little modification to the hardware.

If the airlines incorporates this idea, I would need a percentage of profit share 😉
And you will be my witnesses to this.

Now the act-
1. How do I get this idea to the airline folks? You can help me by sharing and forwarding until it reaches the relevant heads. What say, deal? 🙂 come on, it’s just a little act. – I’m just kidding, do it only if wish to… Thank you.

Surrender Tactics – Applying what we read and what we watch every day!

Current Case Study : Applying what we read and what we watch every day!

Scenario: Client needs a Creative for their Trade Show – Back Drops

Client : I need a design that no one has ever seen before. Should focus on my business objective and must be easier to understand.

Creative Head : Sure, something unique as usual, will deliver – That’s a promise.

Pitch : Show cased the creatives, shared the philosophy behind, had a series of campaigns lined up, delivery time identified and the client is happy.

Work begins and after 7 days of progressive work. Client calls back…

Client : I saw a print AD today morning, very similar to what you have for me. I need this AD instead of yours. Make necessary changes.

Research Team, Creative Head, Copy writers look through the AD and found no corresponding links to the original idea. However, the client asserts on COPYING some work done by other agency.

What would you do? Initially, we refused to change – since it was copying someone else work. And the context we had, does not match with the client’s business objective nor to the concept and philosophy the theme carried.

I went back to my office contemplating on this new change. What should I do?

Should I adopt Howard Roark’s format? – Not changing a bit to his drawings but ripping the idea down and letting the client lose. (The Fountain Head Character)
or
Should I follow Dr. Gregory House’s policy? – They(patients) don’t know what they want – go ahead create and delivery – let’s face the outcome later. (Character from the TV series Dr. House)
or
Should I go the Peter Keating’s route?- Change, Amend, Copy, make the client happy and get paid well. (The Fountain Head Character)
or
Use Donald Drapper’s thought – Meet with the client and dump the project off with a Thank you. (Character from the TV series Mad Men)

At the right moment this thought came by: Surrendering – Tactic and Saved my DAY

Surrender Tactics – itouched

It is always our first instinct to react, to meet aggression with some kind of aggression. But the next time someone pushes you and you find yourself starting to react, try this: Do not resist or fight back, but yield, turn the other check, bend. You will find that this often neutralizes their behavior – they expected, even wanted you to react with force and so they are caught – off-guard and confronted by your lack of resistance. By yielding, you in fact control the situation, because your surrender is part of a larger plan to lull them into believing they have defeated you.

This is the essence of the surrender tactic: Inwardly you stay firm, but outwardly you bend. Deprived of a reason to get angry, your opponents will often be bewildered instead. And they are unlikely to react with more violence, which would demand a reaction from you. Instead you are allowed the time and space to plot the countermoves that will bring them down.

What a learning and relief it was… Try it… It might come handy to you too.

The Man from Earth – Itouched movies – Learning through Movies

Samson Sheel Kumar’s Contribution to this Friday’s Movie watch list. 🙂

Movie : The Man from Earth

A brilliantly scripted movie that will challenge you to think beyond what is commonly accepted as, ‘possible’. What starts out as an impossible proposition is slowly turned around by the use of logic in a well paced group conversation. Laying bare the shock, emotions, disbelief, defensiveness and awe humans experience when presented with a possibility that goes against something they ‘know’ for a fact, the movie is a tantalizing contest between ‘why’ and ‘why-not.’

Here are suggestions that might enhance your experience of watching this movie:

What were your thoughts when the lead character tells his story?
Was it easy of difficult to see an alternate point-of-view though it goes completely against everything that you have believed so far?
Within the context of the film were there any loopholes in the logic that the lead character presents?
How might ‘accepting’ this story or that it might be possible affect your worldview?
What was revealed about the each of the characters in the way they reacted to the views presented by the lead character?

A perfect example of how movies can and how some do make you think – Man From The Earth.

Quote from the movie :

Harry: Edith, I was raised on the Torah, my wife on the Qu’Ran, my eldest son is an Atheist, my youngest is a scientologist, my daughter is studying Hinduism, I imagine there is room there for a holy war in my living room, but we practice live and let live.

Dan: I’m going home and watch Star Trek for a dose of sanity.

John Oldman: And that’s what I taught, but a talking snake made a lady eat an apple, so we’re screwed.

Edith: [talking about God] He’s everywhere. We just can’t see him.

Harry: Pfft. If this was the best I could do, I’d be hiding, too.

John Oldman: Believe in what He tried to teach without the rigmarole. Piety is not what the lessons bring to people, it’s the mistakes they bring to the lessons.

Dr. Will Gruber: I still don’t believe you, you know. You need help.

John Oldman: Everybody needs help.

Dr. Will Gruber: Yes, well. Some more than others.

Personal Branding – Marketing Communication – the mind of the market

Sam comments to the article : What do you see? Exercise for your mind – Creativity-Branding-Consumer insights. “Nice article! Goes on to show how we make and keep mental connections. The way I see it is that the import of this for marketing professionals is to understand how these connections are made and based on this understanding devise better ways of manipulating perception about a product/service in the mind of the consumer.”

A question that came to my mind was – can the same principles apply to branding for an individual? If yes, how?

Happily there are exceptions to every rule. Researchers have said that consumers don’t show up their actual desire for a product even if they like it internally. – Ted Talk delivered by Malcolm Gladwell “What they(consumers) say and what they do, are from two different paradigms.” Hence we cannot really get them to understand a brand’s value quickly. However, when we narrate -project stories, using the right metaphors which triggers their imaginations; we then have a platform to build our brand’s value unto them.

For example, Companies like Coca-Cola, Unilever, Hallmark, Syngenta, Bank of America, Glaxo, American Century and General Motors focus their attention on how “Joy” influences consumer behavior while un-ware of the impact of disgust.

Yet disgust – is one of the most powerful human emotions – which plays a major role in people’s selection of cleaning supplies, fabrics and food.

What we indeed need to realize as advertisers is to use the right trigger of metaphors to project the right set of imaginations that builds emotional connection with the brand. Metaphor is the engine of imagination. – More from the book on how customers think – Harvard Business School Press

The same rule applies to all branding activities including Personal Branding

Personal branding is about how you have branded yourself to the market place & how they perceive you to be, as a Brand. A simple implicit Association game.
Personal branding includes everything you Say, Eat, Wear, Talk, Walk, Comment, Write, How you Sit, Stand, Pose, Stare, – triggers their Subconscious Association of your act or summation of acts put together – and relate to what they remember and have Labeled that Act to be. Tough huh…:-) for more information watch the tv series of the goodwife and closely watch the role of Alan Cumming as Eli Gold or watch the The West Wing – President and his team.

Eg: You might project yourself as righteous to the world, however, that righteousness may not mean the same “righteousness” in their world (internal paradigm that each one lives in)

You will in-fact discover more about yourself than what you have interpreted yourself to be. JO-HARI window comes to my mind – Memory Recall 🙂

Jo-Hari window

You have no control over what they ASSOCIATE you with or perceive you to be. However, the things you have control over are the things that you PROJECT to them periodically. Keep projecting the image you believe in, live it and they will sooner or later realize and accept your BRAND ‘personally’.

Hope this helps you brand yourself better. If you need help, just outsource that activity to us. We will guide you through every step to project the right image you expect your Market to Believe. 🙂

Thank you Sam for seeking more info. Appreciate your time.

What do you see? Exercise for your mind – Creativity- Branding-Consumer insights

Lessons on Branding:-

Branding is all about what we communicate, how we communicate, how we live up to our promise, how we treat consumers, and more. But it all begins with what STORY we share, how we tell that story, how to trigger memories from the consumers mind with a metaphor and more..

Push marketing, pull marketing, push & pull strategies. We’ve heard them some many times in the ecosystem of marketing. Creative people on the other hand go through Whack your mind, See things upside down, Think the opposite, Try a random idea and more to create an influential storyline.

I’m going to make you do the same 🙂 However, the lessons derived would be different. Observe, Think, and Decide on what you see out of these images:

Branding Exercise Image:1.0

What do you see? Image 2.0

Learning : Brand meaning is even more elusive than marketing researchers previously thought, because consumers’ predispositions generate thoughts and feelings toward the brand that unconsciously influence their reaction to that brand. They fill in missing information, which becomes as real to them as if it were physically present in a product or in promotional materials. Consumers add qualities to a familiar brand just as they see the missing lines in image 1.0 & 2.0. These qualities are experienced as real and duly recorded in the brain as such. They are real, because consumers’ minds (more than the brand) have supplied them with that information. Remove any knowledge of the brand, and the special qualities tend to disappear.

Use the right words, right images and create the story line that you want consumers to understand. Beware of the complexity of their minds creating parallel story lines only to understand and relate to your story better.

Marketing is a beautiful art to understand how consumers react, and why? Keep a close watch on this blog and we’ll bring you more of it. Don’t forget to rate it or comment about it; that’s the only way I get to improvise my work.

Answers : Image 1.0 : Pac man and triangle. Image 2.0: Praying mantis, a Man & a Boy.

Happy Learning!

Bill Gates: There may be a few… similarities. Steve Jobs: Similarities? Similarities? Try theft.

itouched movies

I was indeed actively zealous about not missing to publish these suggested movies on Friday 🙂 So, here you go…

The movie : AntiTrust & Pirates of the Silicon Valley.

What to look for? : Lessons on the Objective world & Subjective world or inother words, ‘My world’ and ‘the world’ . What makes them do what they do? What makes these logos stand out in the crowded market place? Who are these folks and how differently do they think? A little trip into the minds of geniuses.

What’s behind each of these logos? How to do they think, operate, execute? Learn more through this movies…

Quotes from the movie : You’re either a one or a zero. Alive or dead. – AntiTrust
Milo: Doesn’t Bill Gates have something like that?

Gary Winston: You’re either a one or a zero. Alive or dead.

Reporter: Gary Winston once said that any teenager in a garage could put him out of business. Is that what you’ve done?

Gary Winston: It’s just a matter of time before someone borrows your technology, improves it and makes a billion dollars on it.

Bill Gates: Get real, would ya? You and I are both like guys who had this rich neighbor – Xerox – who left the door open all the time. And you go sneakin’ in to steal a TV set. Only when you get there, you realize that I got there first. I got the loot, Steve! And you’re yellin’? “That’s not fair. I wanted to try to steal it first.” You’re too late.

Bill Gates: There may be a few… similarities.

Steve Jobs: Similarities? Similarities? Try theft.

Steve Jobs: Maybe in a past life I was a poet – or an artist.

Bill Gates: Steve, all cars have steering wheels, but no one tries to claim that the steering wheel was their invention.

Pirates of Silicon Valley

Which company are they indirectly referring to? Who are emulating the actor to be? and more…

I watched this movie and had a great time learning how these companies, ideas, products, compete against each other before we get to use them. I loved the idea OPENSource adopts. I also learnt how the Huge Elephants go after them. I may not have understood the actual reality, however, I got the outline and sure to fill it with real time data.

Here are some links to my previous posts, which will add value to your outline your mind is already drafting 🙂 Realtime-data.

https://itouchedathought.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/real-or-unreal-samsung-pays-apple-1-billion-sending-30-trucks-full-of-5-cents-coins/

https://itouchedathought.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/itouched-microsoft/

More next week 🙂

Happy Weekend & Happy Learning!

itouched Movies – Nithy

Remember me, feelings, motives, and desires? – Friday Movie

It’s weekend!

And I am thinking to start sharing my list of movies that touched me. This could also serve those wanting a quick access to learn and see something differently. Advertising professionals are expected to be very observant and bear the skill-sets to see things from different perspectives. So, here’s exercise for your mind, while you relax… 🙂

The movie : Remember Me

Quotes from the movie : Tyler: You know what day I’m staring at, Michael. By 22, Ghandi had 3 kids; Motzart, 37 symphonies; and Buddy Holly was dead.

Tyler: Love’s involved with spending time together, but spending time apart, can lead to loving even *more*

Tyler: Gandhi said that whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it’s very important that you do it because nobody else will. Like when someone comes into your life and half of you says: “You’re nowhere near ready”. And the other half says: “Make her yours forever”. Michael, Caroline asked me what would I say if I knew you could hear me. I said: “I do know. I love you. God, I miss you, and I forgive you

Who is this Tyler? How is M.K Gandhi’s quote related to this movie? Is this yet another love story?
Well, it’s a beautiful movie, if only you watch it through the perspective derived from the above stated dialogues.

If you still want to dig further about this philosophy? Get your hands on The Adjustment Bureau!

More…next week! Don’t forget to share your viewpoint after watching…

Happy weekend!

Great Print Ads… Have you seen one? Time to Share…

Print AD – Great Ads.

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75423/i-never-read-the-economist-poster-brown-ron/

Object:Poster
Place of origin: UK (printed)
Date: 1988 (printed)
Artist/Maker:
Brown, Ron, born 1934 (art director)
Abbott, David, born 1938 (copywriter)
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO (advertising agency)

Materials and Techniques:
Colour offset lithograph on paper

Credit Line: Given by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. Reproduced courtesy of The Economist/Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO Ltd.

Museum number:E.2149-1997
Gallery location: In Storage

Someday, I’ll have mine! 🙂

MetaSlim- Advertising error!

 

Advertising Error :

Here’s one that I found on a Television program. It’s a product that helps you lose weight – rapidly.
It’s about 30-40 mins broadcast – in which they include before and after photographs, live testimonials and scientific process animation to show how the product works.

If only they had studied the book : how do customers think. They probably would have avoided this mistake.

The error: take a close look at the caption on his T-Shirt -It reads,

cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.

True, this show indeed is cleverly disguised to trap people into buying this product. Without any biases, this is what it meant to me; when I saw it with curious eyes to see if all this was real?

The thought process: we’ve heard, seen, read, many articles that claims; its not easy to lose those extra waist line without proper diet and exercise. Now, when a program like this claims to be having a solution to lose weight without dieting or exercising; you automatically wake-up your subconscious to watch intently for errors in the photographs, testimonials or their body language to pick up queues as evidence for not being misled. You are operating on a very high level of caution.

What happens when it’s right at your face written in good bold text, that its cleverly disguised. Wont that immediately pull you out of the process to buy?

Think about it…. And share your thoughts….