Marketing Ganga

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  • Rural Marketing with Video on Wheels

    Rural India constitutes a substantial percentage of market for automakers, e.g. Hyundai gets 32% sales from the non-urban markets. Maruti sells its fast moving car brands to orange farmers in Nagpur, turmeric growers in Tamil Nadu, granite polishers in Hyderabad, pottery makers in Jaipur, Madhubani painters Bihar, potato growers in West Bengal, apple and fruit growers in HP, fishermen in Howrah and alphonso mango growers in Ratnagiri.

    Maruti has converted a Tata truck into an 18-seater mobile theatre. It takes the vehicle to project promotional films to different non-urban areas. Maruti Alto, its entry level car, fetches 36 per cent sales from rural areas. The truck has a big LCD TV, a split AC and push-back chairs. The projected film is aspirational. The quiz questions based on the film are asked  after the projection. The winners take home prizes such as caps, pens and wall clocks, with Maruti Suzuki branding. The opinion makers in rural society are wooed. They are invited for a factory visit.

    Maruti has created a force of resident dealer sales executive ( RDSEs ) who do the profiling of villages to assess their potential and then target them.

  • Advertising : New Frontiers

    Of the 7 billion people on the earth, 5.6 billion are connected by cell phone and more than half of those accessing the internet do so without a laptop, desktop or a landline. Advertising against this scenario has become more valuable than ever and more consequential. In essence, it is an educative force. Advertising has always been an engine for economic stimulation and social charge. Its purpose is to make a world a better place to live in.

    The growth in advertising will come from India, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Mekong sub-region. Since the World Cup took place in South Africa, the Sub-Saharan Africa has come a long way. There are 800 million people in that region. Advertising will continue to improve lives in ‘always developing markets ‘ like Japan, the US, Western Europe, Brazil, Russia and the Middle East.

  • Most Affordable 3-D Printers

    Biotz, a Kerala-based start up set up by Anand, has launched  the most affordable 3D printer Makifyer in India. According to Anand, times are near when kids will print their toys home. 3D printing is increasingly gaining acceptability to design and build prototypes and functional parts. 3D  printers work in additive manufacturing technology called ‘fusion filament fabrication or FF’.  Here the material is laid down in layers. A plastic filament  or metal wire is unwound from a coil and supplies material to an extension nozzle, which can turn the flow on and off. The base model costs Rs.1 lac. 3D printing is now moving from portotyping to large scale manufacturing. 3D printing will have applications in health care esp. to develop prosthetics, in automobiles to recreate car parts and create futuristic car designs, in designing, in movies and TV and is useful for both researchers and do-it-yourself enthusiasts.

  • RIP : Amby

    Vajpayee opted for custom-made BMW in 2003. Since then, the government purchases have declined, and there is a steady, downhill for the Amby. In the mid-1980s, the company made 24000 units. In the 1990s, the figure came down to less than 12000. In the new millennium, the figure came down to less than 6000. There are some 2600 workers in Uttarpara plant who make in these final days just five cars a day.

    ‘ RIP , Amby, your time is up ‘.  HM has been referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction ( BIFR ). They have to restructure the organisation and get a strategic partner. However, the chances of revival are slim. Promoters manufacture cars for Mitsubishi and Isuzu at a plant near Chennai. They do not plan to introduce fresh investments. They tried to revive the company by introducing Contessa but after its failure, further investments were discouraged.

    Even the taxi market has been tapped by Maruti Suzuki Dzire and Tata Indigo CS. HM introduced BS IV emission norms two years late.

    The workers have not been paid regular salaries.

    The Uttarpara plant dares back to 1942, making it the second oldest in Asia after Japanese giant Toyota.

  • Herbal Products : Regulatory Framework

    As the ultimate aim of herbal products is to deliver the goodness of herbs to the consumers, regulations must be framed in consistence with this objective. A herbal product could be a cosmetic, an ayurvedic medicine, a drug, a food or food supplement  (neutraceutical ) , or a food additive. It is necessary to appreciate that regulations are not based on the herbal material per se, but on the intended use of the material.

    Herbal cosmetics are formulated using permissible cosmetic ingredients to form as base in which one or more herbals or herbal ingredients are used to provide defined cosmetic benefits. The label must declare it as Herbal Cosmetic. The license is obtained from the state’s FDA under the Drugs and Cosmetic Act and Rules. There should be compliance with the GMP requirements for cosmetics manufacture. There are issues regarding whether a product is a drug or cosmetic, since at times the ingredients are mentioned as drugs in the authentic texts. A schedule has been introduced under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act mentioning ingredients and recommended for oral, skin, hair and body care in saundarya prasadak — husne afza.

    An ayurvedic medicine is manufactured as per recipe or formulation listed in the Books of First Schedule of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, and the method of manufacturing / processing is as per the book. It is made under Ayurved Drug License. There is a provision for proprietory, Ayurvedic Medicine License for drugs which have one or more ingredients / herb mentioned in any one of the book referred above. These are classical / grantha Ayurvedic drugs. There are no provisions for New Ayurvedic Drugs / Medicines, and no provisions for the import of Ayurvedic drugs / medicines. The law is silent on these areas. Though there are manufacturing licenses required for Ayurvedic Medicines, there is no need for sale licenses for outlets that stock, distribute and sell Ayurvedic medicines.

    A herbal product becomes a drug where drug’s definition under the Act can be applied to it. These products are approved if they satisfy the standards of purity and potency given in the official book or pharmacopeia. There were monographs for herbs / herbal products years ago in the I.P. However, in the last two decades, these have been deleted. More presence of the monograph does not mean they are drugs but these must be approved under Drugs Rules 122 from C DSCO and DCGI as a new drug. There is no bar for a herbal to apply for approval as a drug but the requirements here are tilted in favour of synthetic molecules. To overcome this, a definition of phytopharmaceuticals has been introduced. There are scientific studies on quality, system and efficacy on lines equal to a drug, but these are to be Gazetted yet. There are still many herbal products marketed as drugs on the basis licenses issued long time ago.

    The Food safety Standards Act and Rules ( FSSA and FSSR ) govern herbal products as food or food supplement. Under the Act, food means any substance which is intended for human consumption. It could be processed or unprocessed. It includes primary food, genetically modified or engineered food, food containing such ingredients, infant food, packaged drinking water, alchoholic drink, chewing gum and any substance ( including water ) used into the food during its manufacture, preparation or treatment. It does not include any animal feed, live animals unless they are prepared or processed for placing on the market for human consumption, plants prior to harvesting, drugs and medicinal products, cosmetics, narcotic or psychotropic substances. Any other article can be declared as food by the Government. A food additive is only substance not normally consumed as food by itself or used as a typical ingredient of the food but is added intentionally to food for a technological purpose affecting the characteristics of such food.

    There are 370 foods defined under the Act and standards are spelled out for them. Foods for which no standards have been specified can be manufactured and marketed as proprietary food.

    It is proposed to market Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani ingredients known for their history as supplements. Herbal products marketed is food must meet the labeling requirements. There is no bar on herbs being added to food even if they are not known in India provided adequate data about its efficacy, quality and safety are available. Some of these can be classified as Novel Foods. Foods should not make clinical claims. The Export regulations are yet to be streamlined.

    Herbal food additives merit attention. Food additives are gums, starches, oleo resins, food colours, distilled oils.

    Herbal products for veterinary use should also be studied.

    Herbal extracts ( standardised extracts ) are used. But the concept of active pharmaceutical ingredients does not exist in Ayurvedic drugs or foods. Thus manufacture of such extracts faces many problems.

  • Mass Communication – A Misnomer

    Traditionally, mass communication over the past hundred years was related to the audience size—the masses of people. The audiences were large and diversified. They were anonymous for the corporates who created material. The concept worked well till recently. However, theses days there are 500 plus TV channels, hundreds of FM radio stations, and millions of internet users. The mass of audience has become fragmented. There is a special audience for each TV channe l— may be not a big mass. Mass communication, to this extent, becomes a misnomer. However, though mass has not remained significant in mass communication, the way the content is created is special. These days the content is produced by mass production process  to reach out people at the same time. The process by its very is nature industrial.

  • Goodbye to Soap Operas by P & G

    It was in the 1920s and 1930s that radio caught the imagination of Americans. Procter and Gamble (P&G) took the opportunity to sponsor programmes, thus giving birth to the term ‘soap opera’. All of a sudden, something changed in 2010. The maker of Tide detergent and Ivory soap discovered Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and its countless cousins. By the end of 2010, P & G announced that it had bid good bye to its association with soap operas and instead embraced social media. In India, P & G’s global rival Unilever too is moving along similar lines.

  • Breathtaking Action Scenes – Car Stunts in Movies

    Car stunts are very popular in Hindi cinema. Habib is known for his car stunts in movies such as Dhoom. He entered this field after the death of his father in 1991. His father too was a car stunt man who expired during the stunt of Hamla,  a movie starring Anil Kapoor. Habib’s father had done stunts in movies such as Maut, Eilan, Mard   and Burning Train. Habib was hardly 17 when his father passed away. Habib’s uncle Younus too did car stunts. Habib substituted an absent car stunt man in Kasam Teri Kasam. It was his debut. Habib got recognition after his stunts were shown on National Geographic channel.  Habib is good at car chasing scenes. He observes all the safety standards. Habib has a collection of vintage cars. He supplies these cars to the industry. In Golmal 3  he has supplied all the cars. He also has got three tracking cars — a tracking car means a camera car. A horse rider is shot with a tracking car.

  • Artificial Rains in Movies : Special Effects

    Artificial rain in movies is introduced with the help of pumps, compressors and showers. Such rain is necessary in dancing scenes, dahi handi  scenes and holi scenes. Sometimes it is necessary to introduce weather changes such as wind, clouds and fog. Shivanand Mohile is an expert doing this work for the last 30 years. He has done artificial rain scenes in more than 400 movies. To prevent illnesses after getting drenched in such rains, Shivanand also provides tepid water for rain. His rain scene has also been incorporated in the film Slumdog Millioniare. He can be described as the rain-man.

  • Apple’s Celebrated Design Team

    Apple’s celebrated design team is a group of around 16  ‘maniacal’  individuals from all over the world, who spends a lot of time brainstorming around a kitchen table. iPhone and iPad design features owe a great debt to creative guru Jonathan Ive and his cadre of designers assembled from Britain, Australia, the US, Japan, Germany over more than a decade. Their role is to imagine products that do not exist and guide them to life. Ive’s team works out of a large, open studio on Apple’s campus in Cupertino, California. Over the years, the team earned a reputation for blending the aesthetically appealing with the functional. Once a product design idea is solidified through a brainstorming session, the design team sketches those ideas and models it through a Computer Aided Design process.