Marketing Ganga

Author: Shabbir Chunawalla

  • Adult Comic Books

    Shamik Dasgupta writes Daksh meant as he says ‘not for kids or the faint-hearted.’ They are for 18-30 age group which is quality conscious and has the ability to invest in hobbies. It is a nostslgic attachment for the people who grew up on them. The stories must also grow up. Comic Jump is monthly magazine published by Level 10 comics. Deepak Sharma is its studio head. Their offerings are Daksh, Batu Gaiden and Shaurya. These comics have characters that are more real. The connect is thus established. Diverse generes have entered comics apart from mythologicals, e.g. horror, high fantasy, science  fiction, and Hind film industry. Pop culture publishing is another company that publishes adult comic books.

  • Gautam Rajadhyaksha — Ace Photographer

    Gautam graduated in Chemistry at St Xavier’s in Mumbai. He then joined the ad world in 1974 and kept working for 15 years.He was teaching at St Xavier’s. He approached approached Alyque Padamsee, the then CEO, Lintas for a job.He joined as a copywriter and the went on to be in charge of the photo department. He turned a fashion photographer in 1980. He shot pictures of actors Shabana Azmi, Tina Ambani and Jackie Shroff. He soon became famous for portraits of Hindi film stars shot in soft diffused light. He took up from where photographers Dheeraj Chawda and Neeraj Arya left. He preferred to be in the picturesque Kunnoor, and shttled between Kunnoor and Mumbai during the latter half of his life.He was an avid music lover and collector of opera recordings. Nikhil-Wagle of IBN-Lokmat in an interview asked him as to how he would like to be remembered. Gautam’s response was that people should say, ‘ He was living till he died.’ He also established him as an author by contributing to Celebrity magazine. He also wrote scripts. He did scripwriting for Bekhudi (1992) and Anjam.He published Faces, a coffee table book, in 1997.

    According to Shobha De, the difference between a good picture and a great picture is in understanding light. Gautam understood both light and people. Gautam will live in his many immortal images. Gautam’s soft focus style of photography was unique.

  • Philo Taylor Fransworth — The Father of Television

    This brilliant American, though not as well-recognized as Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Alva Edison, was responsible for developing his idea of TV in 1922. There were others who were trying to transmit images though whirling disks  and mirrors — a mechanical process. Fransworth had realized that images could be transmitted by electronic means. His chemistry teacher Tolman inspired him. Mechanical transmission of short-distance has been made possible by Britain’s John Braid in 1934. Zworykin of Westinghouse  was already doing mechanical TV research. But it was Fransworth who first thought of electronic transmission. He explained how to focus the image to be transmitted on the photo-electronic surface of a vaccum tube. Each point of the image, under proper control, would spin off electrons corresponding to the intensity of light trained on a particular spot. He figured out how to change the light-waves from an undulating to electronic zig-zag pattern that could oscillate two million times per second.

    Fransworth established financial partnership with Everson and Gorell, the two businessmen from San Francisco to set up a research laboratory in Los Angeles. In 1926, Mott Smith, an authority on electro-physics endorsed the idea as scientifically sound. They asked the attorneys to begin a patent search. Fransworth was further assisted by Crocker National Bank to set up a laboratory in a San Francisco loft. Framsworth and his handful of commercial assistants transmitted a black-triangle on Septenber 7, 1927, which was followed by the transmission of a dollar sign three months later to their bankers.

  • Search for Planets in Space

    Space exploration through the telescopes is a continuous study for the astronomers.Kepler telescope was a great help in this endeavor but will work for only a couple of years more.It is proposed to launch James Webb telescope.NASA is going to launch Wide Field Infrared Telescope (WFIRST). Europe will launch PLATO.

    Our universe consists of a large number of galaxies, say 100 billion. Each galaxy has 200 to 300 billion stars. You can imagine the number of planets that move around these stars. Some of these planets are just gas giants. Many circle the stars that are too dim.Some are far off from the star.There are some rocky planets but we do not know much about them.But as there are a very large number of planets, there is a probability of finding many earth-like planets with the presence of water, the right temperature and atmosphere. Such planets are conducive for growth of life.But finding life is difficult and finding intelligent life is more difficult.If we study the history of the formation of such planets, we can understand better how the earth itself has evolved.

    The first confirmed discovery of a planet was made in 1992.A planet around a star was seen in 1995.Since then cataloging has started, and 1800 planets have already been cataloged. Another 1000 are being assessed. Bigger planets can be observed directly but the smaller ones are confirmed indirectly. What is noticed is the variation in the speed of a star, when it either moves towards the earth or away from it.When a planet comes between the star and the earth, a star loses its brightness slightly. Otherwise, a planet magnifies the brightness of a star.

    This is an exciting period for the hunt of the planets.

     

     

  • Field Force in Marketing Research

    Field operations are a major expense of marketing research firms. It is possible to outsource these operations from independent firms abroad. In India, we do not have many such companies. IMRB has between 3000 — 4000 permanent and temporary employees in the field at any point of time. Even companies like NFO India has around 2000. There are not many mainline research firms because of the high cost of setting up field operations. Though there are efforts to outsource these, the experiences are not good. Clients should also take interest in the field work by checking interviewers. They do go in for qualitative research focus groups. But quantitative research is ignored. If clients attend interviews, they will know whether there is understanding of questions and whether these are being asked properly. The order, the tone, the recording — all these make a difference. HUL takes field work seriously. They conduct field audits also. Such audits can be conducted by independent field investigators on the lines of audit by CAs. Research firms are thinking of setting separate firms for field operations. AC Neilson India has put in place an elaborate systems of data checks at multiple levels. Gallap MBA has a system of project managers, one in each region, who has overall responsibility of ensuring that each project is completed in time, and that quality standards are maintained. NFO India has put an All-India Field Information System which allows jobs to be monitored online.

    As this is a people-oriented business, we have to focus on HR. The job is low paid and laborious. It is not easy to motivate such a force. There is a burnout after putting in some years. People tend to cut corners, and fudge data. The turnover is high. Mostly people are sourced through educational institutes and households. But we need highly educated researchers for complex projects. They may require special skills. Higher  pay scales attract career-oriented people now. They may progress into data processing research management and as heads of field operations. Recognition is the most important thing.

  • Sports Fashion

    Venus Williams, the tennis player, emotionally moves us both by her game and attitude. Sports persons have carved a niche in the fashion world — be they cricketers, basketball players, football players, tennis players, car racers or swimmers. The game being played is watched. At the same time, how you look while playing is also being watched. Sports persons are the new brand ambassadors. Today’s sports persons make a fashion statement. Serena Williams is the darling of the masses. Maradona, Ronaldo, David Beckham are idolised. Michael Schumacher is loved by one and all. Cricket today is played on the ground as well as on TV screens. Kerry Packer, on Australian magnate altered the game of cricket. IPL is a clever mixture of sports and commerce. Maybe, the sports takes a backseat.

  • Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) Flying on Solar Power Round the World

    Man’s pioneering spirit has taken him from strength to strength, The Wright Brothers a little more than a century ago put the man into the skies and spawned a new aviation industry. Aircrafts use aviation fuel from petroleum, a fossil non-renewable fuel. Man has aimed to replace this by renewable and non-polluting clean fuel. Soalar energy has been tapped to generate electric power which can be used to propel the aircraft during daytime and store the power in lithium batteries to fly at night. Previous prototypes of the solar powered plane have been successful. Such planes have successfully flown at a height, during night for 26 hours and has crossed the seas — Atlantic and Mediterranean.Depending on this experience, an advanced version of this plane called Solar Impulse 2 or Si2 has been developed, and it has completed its test flight on Monday, 2nd March, 2015. Si2 was piloted from Abu Dhabi by the company chairman Bertrand Piccard. It is now all set to go for a round the world trip from Abu Dhabi and it will be the first plane to do so. The flight will commence on Saturday, 7th March,2015 if weather permits.It will return to Abu Dhabi in July or August, 2015. Its routeof 35,000 km is Oman, India — Ahmedabad and Varanasi,China, Myanmar, Hawaii and continental US. Across Atlantic, it will have stop overs in Southern Europe or North Africa before coming back to  Abu Dhabi. Si2 has 17000 solar cells.

    The plane weighs 2300 KG. It is thus a light plane. The whole trip will take 25 flight days. It will cruise at a speed of 140 km per hour. Its wing span is 72 metres and is wider than that of Boeing.The whole project is developed at Payerne in Switzerland.Project cost is $150 millon. The feasibility studies have been spread over 12 years.The team consists of 80 technicians.

    Two pilots and co-founders will mange the flight — Piccard and Andre Boschberg.

    On July 26, 2016, the solar plane completed its round-the-world flight by returning to Abu Dhabi from where it took off on this 40000-km journey over a year ago.

    As we know, it is a Swiss-engineered plane which commenced its journey in March, 2015. It made 16 stops across the world. The two pilots are Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg. As it is a single seater plane, both the pilots took turns to fly it. The last leg was flown by Piccard who was greeted by his fellow pilot Borschberg at Abu Dhabi on completion of the journey.

    The plane weighed 23000 kg, a weight of a mid-sized trunk. An empty Boeing weighs 1.8 lac kg. To steady it during take offs and landings, the plane was guided by runners and bicyclists.It is a carbon-fibre plane.

    During a flight from Japan to Hawaii, its batteries were damaged and this caused a delay of nine months. Piccard fell ill before its last leg from Cairo to Abu Dhabi and that caused a delay of a week.

    In its entire journey Solar Impulse completed 500 flight hours. The average speed was between 45 kmph to 90 kmph. It made stops in India, Myanmar, China, Japan, US, Spain, Italy and Egypt.

  • Indian Fashion Scene

    Neeru Kumar in Delhi is a well-known textile designer. Ritu Beri has won international acclaim.There are specialised courses in fashion design, e.g. NIFT and Wigan and Leigh. Fashion as a career is in great demand. Ritu Kumar, Tarun Tahilani, Rohit Bal, Sunit Varma and J J Vallya are in great demand. Rina Dhaka and Rajesh Pratap are very well-known. Fashion design is a cash-rich profession. Many designers come from rich families, and have export background. Many designers are celebrities in their own right. Weddings of other celebrities and rich people contribute a great deal to the business of the designers. Indian business has yet to put in money into fashion just like the conglomerates are doing in other parts of the world. Indian ethnic wear is gaining ground in the last few years. India has the potential to develop into a big fashion market.

  • Fashion Story

    A fashion show requires elaborate preparations. There is some scripting. There are electricians and choreographers. Fashion models walk up and down listening to music on their iPods. New comers are nervous, and smoke away their anxiety. There are make up men and back-stage boys running around making the models ready for the opening sequence. The socialites occupy the front seats. The dazzle of spot lights sweep the ramp. There are beats that make the feet tap. The show is to commence. The whole familiar thing is reenacted. This is the quintessential fashion show. The clothes, models, designers, MCs and audience might change. But the glamour remains constant.

    Fashion world is divided into many segments. The top segment is coutre which is exclusive and expensive. There is a  fit between the garments and the occasion or the individual. This is a special bridal collection, or collection for an event. The second segment is designer wear. This segment is also expensive. But it is not exclusive. Bridge and young bridge are two more segments which consist of style  conscious big names which are recognised but affordable. The last segment is called missy  consisting of garments which which are adaptations of contemporary styles and lines.These are suitable for fashion crazy but price conscious people.

    Though France is known for fashion, the Italians and Americans command larger share in the world market.

    Fashion world is vicious but rewarding. The designer has to cross the obstacle of the inherent resistance to change. This is not in the form of mind block. It is more cultural and cosmetic. Fashion designers face an uphill task. They persevere, and change the way the world dresses. Designers are talented people. Training is arduous and expensive. They should have patience, and networking. The salesmanship qualities are a prized asset for them. Pure talent does not establish a designer. Many talented people do not make it in the fashion world. Some designers stray into fashion photography, fashion criticism, fashion journalism, custom designing and choreography.

    The commitment, involvement and hard work are necessary for the successful designers.

    A fashion requires lot of preparation and planning. There should be right models and venue. The lights, music, set design and sound system are managed. Then there is back stage planning — make up, hair dressing, accessory planning, voice over selecting etc. There are legal and PR issues. The clothes have to be designed and fabricated. There is a fitting session with the models. Each ensemble should be carried perfectly by the model. Fashion photographers are integral part of the process. Their photographs are used by fashion houses. The photograph must capture the mood of the clothes.

    Fashion houses are part of huge conglomerate. They adopt a designer. The designer visualises and designs clothes according to his concept. The models wear the clothes. The choreographer provide the display setting on the ramp and the fashion photographer captures these. There are buyers in the audience. In the next fashion show, another designer thinks of a new design. The process is continuous.

     

  • Casuals

    Fashion is not confined to clothes and walking on the ramp. It is much more than apparel. there are so many off-shoots — accessories, tattoos, body painting, carpets, candles, mattresses and cushions. The gist is that fashion is a statement. It is a way of life. It is a matter of attitudes. It is also an industry.In this industry, casuals contribute a great deal. Casuals are innovatively informal. They defy the standard, cliched dress code. What we call dressing up is passe. Even the most formal engagements are without dress constraints. Ties and jackets are no longer ubiquitous. Intricately worked upon lehenga-cholis and dexterously embroidered gowns are not always necessary. Comfort is more important than complex work. Dress is common sense, and there is scope for dressing down. Casuals, however, should not border on carelessness and sloppiness.

    This style is spontaneous. It shows the confidence of generation x. It symbolises freedom to break away from the traditions. There is an element of relaxation. It is cool and still chic.The waif-look or grunge-look is common place.

    In years gone by, people wore their best clothes to be well-turned out. Today is dressing understated, underplayed and subtle. This originated from many things. The straitjacket hierarchies broke down. The work culture changed. Golf, the game of kings and the king of games, became corporate past time.It spawned a look that caught on.

    Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Levis, Benetton, Lee and Polo offered casuals.Nike, Reebok, Lacoste and Adidas offered sporty casuals. Woodland, Proline and Mescas followed suit in India.

    Lacoste was a tennis player from France whose reward in the Davis Cup was to be alligator skin suitcase. This incentive was enough for him to win the match. American press called him a crocodile and he sported a blazer with a crocodile drawn on it. In 1933, Lacoste and Gillier set up La Chemise Lacoste, now a big global organisation, and a household name. The logo was of course a crocodile. They designed tennis shirts with half-sleeves, ribbed collar and arm bands. They were smashingly hit.

    Sometimes fashion follows no logic. Couch potatoes and lethargic youth are a part of life. These give rise to a casual grunge look. The clothing is deliberately faded, patched, ripped to shreds, crushed and dotted with holes. It provides a used and lived-in look. The clothes are not to be maintained by way of ironing, folding and hanging. They are to be worn and dumped and worn again. It is your will and wish how to use them.

    There are lot of loose fitting sweat shirts, track pants and suits. There is a range of t’s and slacks. The clothes are eco-friendly. There are earth colours and tones.The packing is in brown paper. Natural fabrics are chosen — jute, khadi, cottons.Metal alloys are used.

    The world of casuals is evolving. New ways are found to use clothes. The search is endless. The clothes are present all over — from homes to offices, from roads to ramps. They are in villages and cities. They are patonised by the princes and paupers in the society.

    There are fashion extras and accessories that go well with these casuals. Casual fads sometimes become obsessions. Some watches like Rado are futuristic as well as functional. They are used as casual accessories. Some essentials have acquired fashionable streaks,e.g. Aviator sunglasses.

    Apart from clothes, the trend of being casual extended to furniture, upholstery, drapery and blankets.

    Fashion houses do not limit to apparel retail.They retail life style. Swatch watches are known as trendy, cheeky, casual watches.

    Hindi film industry has adopted this casual look. The average Indian youth is in his casuals. Different professions may have different dress codes. An old man is casually dressed, whereas a banker is in formals.

    Perhaps being casual means not to follow fashion which itself is fashionable.