Struggle for Succession

The Hindu (newspaper), having a 132-year legacy, probably is a standing symbol of the Indian democracy extolling ideals like the 'freedom of the press'. The reverence it commands stems from the fact that it was founded in the pre-independence era and was a tool for nationalistic propaganda that struck a chord among the people.

As the latest issue of Forbes India says, all it takes to begin a day in Chennai are 3 things - filter coffee, carnatic music and a crisp copy of The Hindu. Having been born and brought up in Chennai, newspaper has been synonymous with The Hindu to the extent that whenever my mother wanted to spread a sheet of newspaper on a shelf, she used to ask me to bring 'Hindu paper' :-) The odd mornings after festivals like Ayudha Pooja, Deepavali used to be simply boring since there wouldn't be a newspaper to read. (Offices of The Hindu were closed on such festival days)

The Kasturi Iyengar family has been at the helm of The Hindu since 1905. The family holds a strong control over the management and editorship. However, changes in editorial style have irked a whole lot of loyals over the years. With N Ram taking over as editor-in-chief in 2003, editorials took a strong leftist leaning which was openly opposed by a lot of passionate readers. The 'Friends of Tibet in India' even went up to the extent of staging an open protest against pro-Chinese anti-Tibetan editorials and news, via the 'Save the Hindu' campaign in 2007. Ram's stronghold on the newspaper prompted many members of the younger 5th generation (18 cousins in all) to write to all shareholders (the family) demanding the separation of ownership and management. They proposed better corporate governance practices. (The Business Line suffers an annual loss of Rs 15 crore)

However, recent developments in the boardroom where Ram refused to stick to his promise of retiring at the age of 65, along with new appointments, have led to a power struggle. The Indian Express has dubbed this as the 'The Hindu very divided' family. Ram tweeted in rage (see above) and his brother N Ravi fired a salvo at him in response (see below) - a la Modi and Tharoor.

While this turns into an ugly battle, competitors like Times of India are slowly winning the market battle. Unless The Hindu takes drastic steps to set its house in order and then improve its business, it may soon find itself drowned in its own legacy. The modern young newspaper reader will only move on!

Looks like it's the age of succession struggles in Chennai! While all attention is on the Karunanidhi family, here's another one worth a watch :-)

Is your site FACEBOOKed?

I'm back after a brief hiatus, extended a little more since a recent development brought out the techie in me (which I wrongly thought was put to rest the day I joined IIM Indore). Guess the signs are visible on my blog :-)

Yes, social networking is evolving fast and Facebook is defining the rules of the game. Facebook hosted its developers conference f8 on 21st April 2010, at San Francisco. The highly anticipated event was followed worldwide by social networking enthusiasts, who eagerly watched trends, strategies and technology being discussed.

'Instantly social and personalized experiences everywhere' has been the mantra for Mark Zuckerburg in his keynote, which perfectly aligns with the new offerings from Facebook - Social Plugins and Open Graph Protocol. This can potentially bind together the biggest social network in the world and a plethora of businesses aiming to offer their customers an interactive experience, thereby leading to a social graph of gigantic proportions. San Francisco based denim maker, Levi's has been among the first businesses to take advantage of Facebook's new plugins.

In the pipeline are exciting innovations like an 'Instant Personalization' capability for third party websites which will pull out information from user profiles on Facebook. The third party sites would be allowed to store user-data indefinitely. Concerns over privacy have cropped up immediately. Ian Paul's blog on PC World provides an in-depth insight into the privacy issue, its fallout and ways to tackle it.

All said, the innumerable 'like' buttons and a FACEBOOKed cyber world are here to stay. If you really liked this blog post from me, spare a moment to click the 'Like' button below.

Love you Grandma!

The good old Indian family is incomplete without its key character - the grandmother ('dadi / nani' in Hindi & 'Paati' in Tamil). The presence of a grandmother is a symbol of strength to any family and a source of immense security for grandchildren, who yearn for her ever growing care and affection.

India, having a tradition of joint families, has seen some good TV advertisements, where the grandma is a central character. These ads were mostly for consumer goods. With other product categories like mobile phones, automobile etc. grabbing more airtime these days and with plenty of nuclear families today, the grandma is slowly fading away from the ad scene. The fixation on celebrities for brand endorsements is also to be blamed.

I distinctly remember the ad for Woodwards Gripe Water from my days as a little boy (in the early 1990s).



Here the grandmother is portrayed as a wise old woman who has experienced the ups and downs in life and has the best advice to every tough situation that youngsters face newly. When the baby cries, the grandma says "Woodwards kuduka chollu... Nee kozhandaiya irukarche naan adhaan kuduthen" (Ask her to give Woodwards to the baby... When you were a baby, I gave you that). This brand has ridden for long on the strategic equity developed by the endorsement from the senior-most member in the household.

The grandmother is also the best friend to her grandchild, who loves to play around and tease her for fun. Her greatness lies in the fact that she can never get irked by the pranks played by her grandchild. This has been brilliantly depicted in a Titan advert. (see below)



The likable grandma of Aamir Khan in that ad is none other than Zohra Segal, the 98 year old actress who was awarded the Padma Vibhushan recently.

Didn't the grandma make advertisements more lively? I certainly think so, and miss her today!

(This post is a tribute to my kind, loving and caring grandmother - the first and biggest fan of my singing - who passed away earlier today. May her soul RIP)

Cyberwatch: Wannabe Mayor?

Ever dreamt of being a mayor? I recently joined a new social network called Foursquare and this (pic below) is what I saw:

Yes, here is a social network that can possibly crown you the mayor of your frequent hangouts. Recently I noticed a flurry of updates on Facebook from my cousin mentioning the places he had 'checked into' at Singapore. Having known Four Square as just a brand of cigarette in India, I got curious about a different Foursquare on the cyber world.

Foursquare is a creation of a small group of techies in Silicon Valley led by Dennis Crowley whom Business Insider calls 'The Most Wanted Man in Silicon Valley'. It falls in the category of Geosocial Networks or location based social-networks, where the network is primarily based on the places the user visits. Foursquare is growing into a phenomenon in the West, with April 16th being declared the 1st ever social-media holiday - FOURSQUARE DAY (Logic: 4 squared is 16 => 16th day of the 4th month!!). April 16th, 2010 saw a huge number of Foursquare Day parties around the world. With popular hangouts like restaurants, bars and cafes getting free publicity, this is proving to be a win-win for all. No wonder companies like Yahoo and branded VCs are knocking at Crowley's door.

Why isn't Foursquare creating any buzz in India? The answer is pretty straightforward. Real-time check-in into any venue has to be done using smartphones (iPhone, Android etc.) or GPRS enabled phones, which right now are the prized possession of an elite few. But there is a potential market waiting (with GPRS access getting more common and 3G coming finally), and Foursquare needs minor local adaptation if it wants mass success in India.

Recently, restaurants started offering special deals based on regular check-ins through Foursquare. But wait a minute, have you been to a cricket stadium in the dead of the night? Well, I have (see below)

Haha... Jus kidding! That was a fake check-in. In its 1 year of existence, Foursquare has seen many fakes and cheats. But the time has come now to pull up its socks, especially with big deals around the corner, and Foursquare is on the right track. Only verified users (through GPS and other means) would be eligible for real rewards (like a free pizza or an additional pint of beer).

Would Foursquare be the next Facebook? Let's wait and watch!

Blimpy Inspiration?

After two longish posts, I'll keep this one really short!

We've heard our dear IPL commentators often mention that MRF is the first company to bring a blimp into India. Now have a look at this:

Marketers in India are truly an inspired lot!

Seth Godin's "shining example of old media" just doesn't seem to fade away :-)

(Seth Godin calls the Goodyear blimp a "shining example of old media" in his book All Marketers are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low Trust World)

Intrusive Advertising

Cricinfo has over the years been my one-stop source for all the news from the Cricket world. On leisure days, I read almost all new articles and on busy days, I keep myself abreast of all the headlines. My consumption of cricket content has been accentuated by the influence of a gang of cricket fanatics at IIM Indore, and I can call myself "hooked to Cricinfo" these days. And it's no secret that mine are just one among millions of pairs of eyeballs from India and around the world that are "hooked to Cricinfo", thereby making the site an advertiser's delight.

Sample this scenario - You, a die-hard Deccan Chargers fan, (a bigger cricket enthusiast than I am) boarded a flight from Bangalore at 8pm last evening, which eventually touched Mumbai at 11:30pm (courtesy the usual congestion for the CSIA runway). You access the CSIA free internet, key in www.cricinfo.com, expecting to catch the DC vs Kings XI match scores & result and all you see is this (for the next 10 seconds).

Irritating isn't it?


This is what I would call intrusive (on-your-face) advertising. Charlie Thurston, president of the advertising sales division at Comcast defines intrusive advertising as that where there's a complete mismatch between the product and the viewer. However, I beg to differ by saying that as long as the ad doesn't impact an activity that the viewer performs, it is non-intrusive.

Every avid cricket watcher would remember the days when the Kitply logo (right) used to appear at one corner of the screen during the replay of a sixer!  A Kitply super sixes package used to follow at the end of the innings. This in my opinion was effective non-intrusive advertising. Though there did exist a complete mismatch between Kitply and me (a 12 year old cricket viewer, then), it never impeded my cricket viewing.

I discovered a petition against intrusive advertising on a site called 'Petition Online'. This petition categorizes unsolicited email, pop-unders, ad banners with audio, ad banners that obstruct content etc. as ways of intrusive advertising. Until recently, intrusion was predominantly on the internet, but it seems to have easily entered the realms of television also - IPL3 being the big culprit.


A lot of my friends totally despise the fact that commentators are trying hard to shove a couple of brand names into your ears every minute. Add to that ad inserts and the MRF blimp, watching IPL on TV is turning into an irritant for many. Some of my friends have gone to the extent of saying that they will never buy a few brands (see left) again in their lives. The quintessential IPL advertiser wants to "break away from the clutter", but he is mistaken if he thinks intrusive ads are helping him do that. A negative brand recall is the last thing that a young brand like 'Micromax' wants. There can be dozens of other ways to break the clutter.

MRF, which captured our hearts with its graceful presence on the bats of Sachin and Lara, has also become a victim, having paid Rs.15 Crore for its blimp in IPL3. The blimp may be flying high, but MRF has certainly fallen from grace!


P.S: The article "Intrusive ads: a necessary evil" by Jim Nichols presents a different perspective, making it an interesting read.

Hungry Kya?

A humid summer afternoon today in Chennai, and I was lazing indoors at home when my phone rang indicating an unknown Delhi number. I answered the call and a pleasant female voice said that she was calling from Domino's Pizza to get my feedback on an order I had placed on Sunday. The feedback revolved around which item I liked the most, what improvements I would expect and whether the offerings were worth the price.

Domino's pizza has come a long way since it set shop in India in the year 1996. Under the control of Jubilant Foodworks which holds a master franchisee agreement (presently extending to Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh), it has taken long for the global pizza giant to warm up to the Indian consumer's mindset. But things are looking up now after massive changes have been put in place.

The questions posed to me during the feedback call revealed quite a lot about the new focus areas of Domino's Pizza here. In my opinion, they are:

1. Variety - The addition of pastas and the choco lava cake complement the regular pizza offering which has itself been embellished by the new Cheese Burst (below) - a roaring success.
2. Quality - The effort to incorporate customer feedback, specifically in improvements indicates the strong focus on quality.
3. Value for money - With offerings starting from Rs.39/- and exciting deals on the menu, Domino's is proving to be an ideal dining destination for the middle-class youth.

Any successful CEO would vouch for the fact that successful strategies are born out of the analysis of huge volumes of data, which bring out the strengths and opportunities that the organization should invest in.  I have a feeling Domino's is doing exactly that, thereby gearing itself up for a successful growth phase in India where it aims to grow to over 500 stores in the next 2 years having stood at just 120 stores 2 years back. The CRM system and the feedback process only confirm my beliefs.

India is the fastest growing market for Domino's worldwide, and is expected to become one of the top 5 markets globally within the next 3 years. No wonder, Patrick Doyle's first halt was in India, after taking over as the new CEO recently.

However, managing growth will be a great challenge and requires immense planning, focus and superb execution, along with great leadership. In my opinion, some of the challenges Domino's will face are the following:

1. Standardization in product and service across all outlets in this vast diverse country
2. Food price inflation will surely affect margins, yet pricing needs to be competitive
3. India is primarily a dine-in market unlike most other countries where Domino's thrives on home delivery (which happens to be its USP) - Real-estate, store management etc. require specialized skills

Notwithstanding these challenges, Domino's is trying to inch-ahead on the innovation front (with online ordering being the latest one) and I'm sure competitors are feeling the heat.

<Photo (left): My friends Bala and Harish relishing our last lunch at a Domino's Pizza outlet in Indore - a place that we would miss terribly (Yes, we were regulars there!), yet carry fond memories>

Sibling Success

It's again the turn of an Indian to take over the top job at a well renowned MNC. This time it's Ajay Banga (left), the turbaned Sikh, who also happens to be the younger brother of Unilever veteran Vindi Banga. Ajay, who like his brother walked the hallowed portals of IIM Ahmedabad, has a very different career graph compared to Vindi, but has eventually pipped him to the post in becoming a CEO.

It's well known that Vindi has spent all his career so far at Unilever, only to announce his decision to quit a few weeks back. He was in the running to be made the CEO of Unilever but lost out to Paul Polman, an ex-P&G strongman. Rumours are that Vindi was never comfortable at Unilever in the Polman era.

However, Ajay who started off at Nestle in 1981, has had stints in diverse MNCs like Pepsico and Citibank before eventually joining Mastercard last year. He has relocated to 10 different places in the last 25 years. 

I recently read an article which says that the elder sibling makes a better CEO material and is more likely to succeed in business than the younger one. The article points to the results of studies that show that first-borns have higher IQs. While both the Banga brothers are exceptional business leaders in their own right, it just seems incidental that Banga jr gets to sit at the top post earlier than Vindi.

Also, Vindi Banga was recently awarded the Padma Bhushan along with a host of other achievers and a certain Sant Singh Chatwal. While the issue of a hotelier being awarded the prestigious civilian honor has been discussed at length in the Indian press, all I wish to say is that there are other high-achieving Indians who deserve the honor, without getting overlooked. 

And I hope the Banga family would soon cheer for another of their illustrious sons receiving the coveted award from the President of India!

Inspiration Premier League?

There are a handful of geniuses in this world who are blessed with magical powers to innovate and achieve pathbreaking success. But the smart businessman is one who gets 'inspired' by these great innovators. Getting inspired (the insightful equivalent of blatant copying) at the right time and in the right way can reap huge rewards.

Think big money, and the first thing that comes to mind is the Indian Premier League (IPL). Is the IPL really an innovation as Lalit Modi and his 'cheerleaders' claim? A quick read of the book "IPL: Cricket & Commerce" by Alam Srinivas and T.R.Vivek would give you suitable answers. Lalit Modi was indeed inspired by the business model and marketing might of the NFL during his student days at the US. The manifestation of his keen observation of the American sports business scene has resulted in the Inspiration Premier League, errr.... IPL!

No wonder, Modi today benchmarks the IPL with the NFL and the NBA, and even goes on to say that the IPL will grow bigger than the NFL and the NBA. The bottomline: I hate to call Modi a genius, but he is undoubtedly a smart (Marwari) businessman.

Does the inspiration story end here................................ ? (more to follow in a later post)