Category Archives: Culture

The Ferrari Formula: A Ferrari in Every Home. Really?

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© Priya Narayanan, Assistant Professor of Marketing, IIM Kozhikode. Views are personal.

From a well-known brand of racing cars to a fashion brand label, Ferrari has come a long way. Yes, you read that right, Ferrari is now selling in-house fashion apparel. Here’s a video of the models on the ramp, oops, on the Ferrari production line. Are we witnessing the democratization of luxury, or is this just another unimaginative attempt to milk the market?

So, Ferrari seems to say: If you can’t buy the car, you can buy the jacket. Or at least a cap. But then you could always buy Ferrari merchandise earlier through franchisees. These branded products have been used in product placements as well. (A hilarious scene in the Bollywood movie Munna Bhai MBBS shows taporis whisking off a tourist – wearing a Ferrari red cap – to supply a personal cadaver for Munna Bhai, the doctor-to-be, to tear apart and learn.)

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They are quick but are they nimble?

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To start with, a quick note to my readers on the two very similar posts (now hidden) that preceded this post. Those were the side effects of being a researcher in marketing. I wanted to check consumer reactions to reading an article on a mobile screen. In any case, here goes the next post, on the “mobile generation”, an entire generation of youngsters who have grown up on mobile phones.

This generation is fast with the fingers: swiping on a touchscreen is the skill to aspire to, rather than typing on a keyboard, just as typing on a keyboard was once the skill to aspire to instead of typing on a typewriter. Indeed, this post is being written (written?!) on a smartphone where the screen tells me that I have reached 127 words and “where” was swiped as “welfare” by mistake. Deliberately or not, my paragraphs are shorter as I swipe because I feel the need to divide the content on the screen for ease of reading, forgetting that the reading might happen on any kind of screen.

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The Changing Actors of Indian Television Advertising [Prize Winner]

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This article was first published as a prize-winning entry in the Dec 2018 edition of the campus newsletter on marketing, Niche (Niche on Facebook here and on Twitter @iimaniche). I have added YouTube links to some old ads.

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Some of the earliest Indian television ads have been by the soap brand Lifebuoy. Our parents, if not we, would recall how Lifebuoy entered the market as a long red bar of carbolic soap, often cut into two halves before being used, for that was an age of patent frugality. The bathing experience, with a bucket and mug, was not very similar to the shower in the tandurusti ad, but there you have it: advertising is more aspirational than realistic. How, then, has such advertising portrayed its actors?

First, the children. Who can forget the adorable girl and her sweet way of saying, “I love you, Rasna”? While Rasna might now be passé, the idea of presenting children in advertising, targeting either parents or children or both, is an incredibly winning strategy. Remember the boy beating up a puddle on the road in the Surf excel daag acche hai campaign? As all seasoned advertisers know (and many others suspect), the road to a mother’s heart (and her purse) lies through children.

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Of Keftede and Kofta – Restaurant Review of Sassy Spoon

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Another semi-formal outing from office, this time for dinner. Someone suggested Sassy Spoon, and there we were, after office on a Wednesday evening, in our formal shirts and trousers, at the doors of a classy-looking place.

On entering, we found a pleasantly lit, welcoming place with ambience that was serious but not uptight, and lighthearted but not frivolous: perhaps it was the soft and warm lighting, or it was the music, or the wall studded with old suitcases (watch out for it), or maybe it was just the welcoming smile on the usher’s face. And in a moment vanished our mild regret at the drizzle not letting us take up the cane chairs arrayed outside.

So we went in, and the place felt very spacious despite there being nine of us, and quite a few other people. First up, we ordered drinks, of which there is a reasonably good set of options. As we got talking, we found the music too loud to our liking, and the waiter very helpfully obliged by turning it down for us.

The menu at Sassy Spoon is something worth checking out. It not only looks different from the usual official looking booklet that we expect at such places, but also contains several foreign sounding terms. These give a good sense of the variety of cuisines that are served at Sassy Spoon – keftede, tzatziki and gremolata share space with the more common ratatouille, ravioli and bruschetta. I couldn’t help googling keftede, and realized it has the same roots as India’s very own kofta. Not surprising, because keftede refers to fried meatballs from Greece! We also noticed that there were quite a few dishes with a tinge of wine or beer in them.

With all this, I must warn you that portion sizes are relatively small, so it’s best to keep in mind, while ordering, that you might have to order more. That said, the time taken to serve was not too high, which could also be explained by the fact that we were having a lot of fun and didn’t notice how long it took for the food to come. The dishes are served in plates of various shapes including squares. Mind you, the plates might look delicate but they are surprisingly heavy, and not just because of the food loaded on them!

Among the dishes we tried were gnocchi with black pepper, which was good despite being quite heavy on the powdered black pepper. We also liked the brown rice paella with beans, artichokes and olives – it is warm and filling, feels healthy and deserves a second serving! There are several other dishes described so well you would like to keep coming back to try each of them, one by one. Among the mocktails, the ‘Very Berry Khatta’ found two takers (which also says something about the number of teetotalers in office!) and it did look inviting when served. The desserts didn’t seem as promising, but then we weren’t keen on desserts, so I’ll be able to comment only after another visit!

The dishes were on the expensive side, but they seemed worth it. At the end of the meal, we were pleased to receive a token that consisted of a nicely-wrapped square of chocolate cake and a short note on the origins of the restaurant. Naturally, I was curious to find out more, and learnt that Sassy Spoon was started quite recently by two friends. I am glad they did that, because they have designed something rare – a place where you will be equally at home with colleagues and with friends!

P.S.: The above review of Sassy Spoon was featured on the front page of Zomato Mumbai, and I thought my readers might enjoy reading about the experience!

Time for Preparation

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“When do we start preparing?” asked one the students attending my guest lecture. And my answer was, “you should have started preparing already.” That is always my answer to anyone who asks about any sort of preparation. There is no right time to start preparing, except the moment when the idea occurs to you, be it the idea of writing a competitive examination (such as the Common Admission Test, as this girl had asked), or writing an article to be sent to the newspaper. There just is no point in delaying preparation. What one can do is start softly (such as reading a good English newspaper in the case of the girl who wanted to write the CAT).

 

A Gripping Tale: Review of Hilary Mantel’s ‘Bring Up the Bodies’

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For once, a non-business post after ages. Hope this makes for a good read…

Hilary Mantel’s second book on Thomas Cromwell is a stark portrayal of intrigue and politics, of people plotting against one another in their ambitions. Bring Up the Bodies, the Man Booker Prize winning sequel to Wolf Hall, itself a Man Booker Prize winner, is a gripping saga for those who appreciate Thomas Cromwell’s ways.

When the novel begins, circumstances in England are such that queen Anne Boleyn has not yet given birth to a baby boy, and the Tudor line of King Henry VIII is not secured. He wants another wife, his third after Katherine and Anne. Thomas Cromwell, as Master Secretary to the king, is assigned the task of clearing the way for the new queen. He arranges machinations in such a manner that a few young men at the court are alleged to have relationships with Anne. This is seen to be ground enough for the death knell to be sounded for the queen and the young men she favored. This, despite the fact that, over the last few years, Anne and Cromwell helped each other rise in the king’s eyes.

Readers of historical fiction will find the book interesting for the sheer amount of detail. The lay reader is sure to appreciate the perspective that the narration comes from: usually it is Cromwell whose perspective is narrated, so that the reader gets a good sense of what happens at the king’s court and what takes place in Cromwell’s mind. There are times when Cromwell misses Wolsey, a bishop of earlier times whom Anne plotted out of favor. There are also other poignant times when Cromwell thinks of his dead wife and daughters. But he has a way of making his facial expression “implacable” so that the other party does not get a clue to his feelings.

Mantel has her own particular way of playing with words, sometimes laden with meaning, sometimes implying something else. She uses metaphors and comparisons to drive the meaning in. For instance, the men at court who face the death penalty are phantoms, for they used to flit in and out of Anne’s privy chambers, and Cromwell is “master of phantoms.” And they are not even dead, when they become “bodies” for all practical purposes.

Overall, a good book, well worth the time spent. And quite a lot is spent, given the 400-odd pages loaded with words and meaning.

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P.S.: I had been hoping to read this book from the time it was released, since I had already read Wolf Hall. Hence imagine my happiness on finding this book at the first shelf in the first row at the library!

Growing with Integrity

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“You have to be in Germany to understand what Bosch means,” a friend told me recently. “They are like the Tatas in India,” he continued, “big, well-respected, old.” He was referring to the engineering and consumer goods company Robert Bosch GmbH. And comparing it to a large Indian conglomerate.

Both of them are standing testimony to what it means to grow without sacrificing values. As they grew, they would have made tradeoffs, they would have learnt the meaning of tough choices. Not all companies can do that. Many companies, at some point or another, give in to the pressure of shareholder results or top management self-aggrandisement. That is why we feel a strange sense of respect for companies that have maintained their values through thick and thin.

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The Benefits of Switching Off

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As incredible as it sounds, there are benefits of switching off connectivity to your mobile phone. There are at least two instances of doing this in a typical working life. The first is to go completely switched off on weekends. This is ideally done with a couple of like-minded, and preferably sports-loving, people (to keep boredom at bay) and/ or with a good book. By Sunday, you feel refreshed. Of course, this works only if you have aligned in advance with your manager and other critical stakeholders.

The second is to pay complete attention during conversations and meetings. That means keeping your phone in silent (ideally with the vibrator off) while talking to anyone, and during any meeting that you care to attend. Nobody I know does that. Nobody except myself! I find it very distracting to glance fleetingly at my phone while someone is telling me something important, and I value the present. In meetings, this practice of keeping my phone in silent mode lets me listen clearly. In conversations, this lets me value the other party. And then I call back the interrupter.

It is not that I ignore what my phone says. I just like my time and attention as interruption-free as possible.

Tell Stories to Sell

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Nobody sees the whole, nobody can, at least. And so we extrapolate without even realising we do so. Very often, it is this extrapolated version of reality that determines our action and reactions. In business, this means that companies end up telling stories in order to sell.

Both brands and their buyers (customers) tell stories to each other, about each other. A brand that provides a coherent, consistent story to its buyers finds that the customers stay loyal. And this, despite there being strong competitive pressure, and minor market mistakes on the brand’s part.

Telling the right story is as important as providing the right service or the right product. A Cafe Coffee Day experience consists of the not just the coffee, and not even the ambience. Today’s customers view the brand in the context of their own lives. For instance, a birthday celebration at Cafe Coffee Day as compared to one at an Indian food place. And then the photos posted on Facebook with comments.

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Family Businesses in Transition

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In my previous post, I had pointed out cyclical changes in economies. Here, we look at family businesses and how these are undergoing times of transition. Unlike in the Western world, India has a large set of family businesses, although we now prefer to call them promoter-driven businesses. These are essentially businesses built up by the father (often alone), brought to maturity, and then handed over to the eldest son, or divided up among the sons.

There are some promoters who realise that the handover needs to be professional in order for the company to succeed in the new world. They also realise the value of a good education — both in a good institution and in the company playground — for the son or daughter to lead the company towards success.

Yet again, there are some promoters who realise that they know how to run the business even when others have mishandled it. These are the likes of Infosys. The company was built up by a team of five or six software engineers, so it was not seen as a family business. But when push came to shove, it was the Narayana Murthy who acted as if he had his own blood in the business. And it is he who has stepped in to put things right, along with his son. It is now a matter of waiting and watching to see what happens.

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Many thanks to the unwitting scion of a family business who talked to me all through a Mumbai-Delhi flight, rather than listen to music or play on her iPad, for helping form this post.

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