MxMIndia

Tag: BlackBerry

  • Blackberry's Fall-Winter collection has unveiled a campaign across premium sites in malls, airports and other upmarket locations of Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru

    Blackberry’s Fall/Winter collection goes aggressive on OOH

    By A Correspondent

     

    Blackberry’s Fall-Winter collection has unveiled a campaign across premium sites in malls, airports and other upmarket locations of Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.

     

    The campaign highlights the quality of clothing that Blackberry’s is known for and a mix of media including billboards, unipoles, mall facades and airport media has been used in the campaign.

     

    Talking about the campaign, Ajay Pradhan, National Marketing Manager for Blackberry’s, shared his feedback on the OOH campaign. “We wanted this to be a high impact campaign, one with not just maximum visibility but also one that would be long-term. A high-end clothing and fashion brand needs to capture the consumer’s attention constantly adding to its aspirational value. What better way to do this than splash hoardings in vibrant shopping locations in the metros?”

     

    One of the unique features of the campaign which will last until end-December 2013 is the use of the portrait unipoles at the Hyderabad International Airport.

     

  • Whats-On-India's TV Trends ratings for Week 47 are out for Hindi and Engish entertainment and movie channels

    Bigg Boss, OMG top Whats-On-India’s TV Trends

    By A Correspondent

     

    Given the popularity of our report on the TV Trends weekly report that we carried last week (http://www.mxmindia.com/2012/11/in-tams-absence-whats-on-india-search-rankings-show-some-trends/), we bring you Whats-On-India’s weekly TV Trends report for Week 47 (November 18-24, 2012).

     

    TV Trends has been built using specialist and proprietary algorithms that collate, analyze and compute millions of observations across multiple platform. It provides cues and powerful insights on the potential consumption and intention-to-view of content by Indian TV viewers.  The sources from where observations are aggregated include What’s On India platforms like:  Web, Mobile portal, Apps (Android, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Nokia Ovi), EPG-on-the-Cloud (MobileTV and IPTV).

     

    It’s been a little over a month since TAM Media Research stopped releasing its weekly ratings following a decision taken jointly by broadcasters, advertisers, advertising agencies and TAM, that the release of the data will be held back until December 19 given that it would take some time for the mandatory digitization process to settle down.

     

    The report gives the Top 5 Programmess of the Week for the following genres:  English Movies, Hindi Movies, English TV Shows, Hindi TV Shows, Regional TV Shows, Regional Movies, Sports and Kids, Documentaries, Lifestyle & Food.

     

     

     

  • For its November issue, Maxim India joined hands with TELiBrahma to take the print editorial to the next level by using intARact app

    Maxim India creates augmented reality experience through TELiBrahma

    By A Correspondent

     

    The November issue of Maxim India decided to bring the Cover Page to life by using the most successful augmented reality technology of TELiBrahma. It enables Augmenting the real world with digital engagements in order to deliver unique and interactive experience for the readers.

     

    Maxim India joined hands with TELiBrahma to take the print editorial to the next level by using intARact app – World’s lightest augmented reality browser available across iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry, Symbian and Java mobile phones.

     

    When users scan the cover page of the Maxim India from their camera enabled feature phones, smartphones or Tablets using the intARact app, the cover page editorial comes alive into an interactive experience. Through this users will be directed to exclusive videos and slide shows of Lisa Haydon. Users would also be directed to mobile site; social media connect and watch the previous cover page videos of Maxim.

     

    Commenting on the tie up Piyush Sharma, CEO, Maxim India said “Maxim being the ultimate celebration of being a guy, and being young at heart blends seamlessly with a strong personal medium such as mobile. And our alliance with TELiBrahma is a natural alliance of two leaders in complementing industries. We definitely are expecting great results for both our brands and above all the end users. We strongly believe that going forward our association will go beyond providing robust and measurable engagement and ultimately together we will be able to deliver our advertisers a total performance oriented return on their investment. I would like to congratulate entire TELiBrahma team for their great foresight and perfect first execution with the augmentation of our November 2012 issue.”

     

    Narasimha Suresh

    “We are happy to partner with Maxim India. Augmented reality allows traditional forms of media to life by driving them into exciting fresh digital content. It also offers a unique opportunity for media houses to integrate static print communication with the digital content, thereby making print as the real spring board for Digital ++.It also allows the publisher to retain continued interest in the print product throughout the shelf life of the product,” said Narasimha Suresh, CEO & Founder, TELiBrahma.

     

     

  • When the slogan is weak, it’s all left to the interpretation, which has to dazzle, else the ad is sunk.

    Debrief: Lazy creative work, BlackBerry

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    BlackBerry is out with a brand new campaign. The message this time is ‘Action starts here’. I don’t much care for this slogan, it’s too generic and boring. Just about any product can use it, including televisions, cars, deodorants and condoms. Now, when the slogan is weak, it’s all left to the interpretation, which has to dazzle, else the ad is sunk.

     

    After watching the TVC, I was left confused. So I watched it again, and was left even more confused. The treatment is the same old – an array of youngsters doing their individual number. One girl wants to turn the world green, another wants to lose some weight. One dude wants to patao a blushing chick, another wants to be a rock star (wow, how original is that!). And so on and so forth. Finally, the voiceover arrives and grandly declares: Whatever be your action, it starts here.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”220″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuE2fzL8nXg[/youtube]

    Totally ridiculous stuff. How exactly does BlackBerry help these guys achieve their objectives, is a mystery. How did the girl change the world? By chatting on BBM? And how did someone lose weight? By reading Shashi Tharoor’s tweets on her slim BlackBerry? Like I said, I am confused. And the treatment is so very sixties. A whole lot of shiny, happy people, with a tired jingle playing in the background.

     

    Dear BlackBerry: I want to remove corruption from this country. How do I do that? By sending a text message to Anna? By asking my pals on Facebook to congregate at Ram Leela maidan? Why can’t I do all this from my Nokia? How will you help me differently? Please do explain!

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 0. Same old, same old stuff.

     

  • The winner of the ads I don't understand category came in this morning papers (and not on television oddly enough) with Blackberry saying an asterisk had something to do with action

    Ranjona Banerji: When ads hit a miss

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    This time I think Airtel has hit a miss: the “what’s mine is yours or what’s yours is mine or what’s mine is mine song” makes you reach for the mute button on your remote. I suppose all good things have to come to an end and Airtel did pretty well with its earlier songs about friendship and sharing. It is testament to good advertising that while I do not actually remember the songs, I do remember them as being listenable.

     

    The grouchy old man as in Ranbir Kapoor for Tata Docomo has outrun its usefulness and is starting to grate. Sooner rather than later, their own customers are going to start thinking about how they’ve kept waiting on the phone, how the service slows down at the wrong time usually and the difficulty of trying to get a human on the line when you have a complaint…

     

    Most people are now feeling the same way about Anushka Sharma, especially her of the Reliance 3G ad. Most feel that she’s too nasty. I feel the worst she can be accused of is grossly exaggerating Reliance’s service. I know it’s a script but perhaps Reliance (or its ad agency) might remember that people are not quite that stupid all the time. Speaking of which, why doesn’t that boyfriend just switch to the same service and end her smart-aleckyness? Maybe he likes her just the way she is? He seems to be a tolerant chap with a sense of humour. Or perhaps his service doesn’t have goons masquerading as bill collectors?

     

    Car buyers although must be quite silly because the “caaaaaaaaar” ad is back. Nissan Sunny is it? I have only one question: whhhhhhyyyyyy? But then I remember the brand so maybe the brand has won but then if I ever buy a car it won’t be this one for sure because I don’t want to sound like a prime twit as I say, “Driver, caaaaaaaaaar le ke aana” to a lift full of strangers. At the very least, I would know the name of my own driver.

     

    If I had to buy a car, it would be a Renault Fluence not because I like it or I know anything about cars but just so I could shut up my show-offy upstart host with his horrible American accent and his skin-crawl-worthy bragging about his things.

     

    The winner of the ads I don’t understand category came in this morning papers (and not on television oddly enough) with Blackberry saying an asterisk had something to do with action. I’m not a Blackberry boy (or girl) and I have some other idea about the usefulness of asterisks, so I was at a complete loss. The ad ran over two pages but more space does not always aid comprehension.

     

    Finally, I now firmly believe that the most irritating song of all is the inspirational one from Hero MotoCorp. All this hysterical urging of India to go has led to all the Indians coming back empty-handed from the Olympics. Trying to make money and tempting fate at the same time? All that you get is bad Karma!

     

  • What's-On-India's Social EPGs will help viewers discover shows, films, matches and documentaries that their social networks and peers are talking about as well as share common interest programs to converse about those shows

    What’s-On-India Launches Social EPG

    By A Correspondent

     

    What’s-On-India, the TV Search & EPG (Electronic Program Guide) company has announced the launch of a revolutionary new product called Social EPG. What’s-OnIndiahas integrated Facebook login on its website and is in the process of extending Facebook logins to all its mobile and tablet apps as well. The central idea is that TV viewers could use Facebook to share each other’s viewing preferences to discover TV shows as well as converse about them.

     

    What’s-On-India’s Social EPGs will help viewers discover shows, films, matches and documentaries that their social networks and peers are talking about as well as share common interest programs to converse about those shows. “Social TV recommendations are considered powerful due to their viral nature and their ability to create tremendous positive or negative word-of-mouth especially for new shows and program launches”, said Atul Phadnis, CEO, What’s-On-India. “Our social network has different clusters of friends representing different interest groups – tennis buddies, college friends, school friends, work contacts and so on. Each of these interest groups could collectively or individually spark off discovery of common interest TV shows relevant to those specific friend clusters,” he added.

     

    This power of social TV recommendations is due to the fact that they originate from a ‘trusted’ source based on their relationship to the person who made the recommendation. This integration between What’s-On-India’s TV search platforms and Facebook will now help the viewers find, share, and engage around TV content.

     

    The next move from the company is to provide these features on the What’s-On-India applications (iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, Symbian & Blackberry) and also integrate the same with other social networking platforms such as Twitter and Google+. All of these features will be powered using What’s-On-India’s proprietary EPG-On-Cloud platform and can be embedded inside third party apps as well.

     

  • Modern retail shoppers seem to be less impacted by economic factors like inflation, high interest rates and slower growth, says Nielsen's April report

    Shoppers at retail chains buy premium items

    By Sarah Jacob & Writankar Mukherjee

     

    Shoppers at food and grocery retail chains appear disconnected from the overall weak consumer sentiment in the country as they upgrade to premium products and buy bulk packs, helping big retailers and consumer goods firms boost average realisation per sale.

     

    Daily use products like hair oil, refined edible oil and toothpaste, and impulse-driven categories such as biscuits, beverages, salty snacks, instant noodles and chocolates are growing much faster in sales value than the number of units sold in modern trade, a report by market tracker The Nielsen Company says.

     

    Modern or organised retail within food and groceries refers to convenience stores, supermarkets and destination outlets called hypermarkets. This is opposed to the traditional kiranas or neighbourhood stores.

     

    Modern retail shoppers seem to be less impacted by economic factors like inflation, high interest rates and slower growth, says Nielsen’s April report.

     

    Industry officials say this trend also has to do with consumer’s shopping motivations. “Consumers are purchasing larger packs, and more value-added products in modern retail since they are showing a tendency to complete their monthly shopping in such stores. They are topping up with smaller purchases from kiranas,” said Dabur India CEO Sunil Duggal. Value growth of one-litre Real juice pack is almost double in modern retail than kiranas.

     

    Manish Tiwary, executive director-sales and customer development at the country’s largest consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever, said modern retail consumers are comparatively better off. “The profile of shoppers in modern trade clearly reflects a higher living standard measure. This is one of the main reasons for the slightly more premium portfolio (in big chains),” he said. HUL’s largest brands within the personal wash category in modern trade are Dove and Pears, while Lux and Lifebuoy rule the roost overall.

     

    Nielsen says stronger purchasing power of modern trade consumers and wider product assortment at such chains encourages impulse purchases and deal-based large-pack buys. “This mix of affluence and experimentation is an invaluable asset for all stakeholders. This can be useful in times of uncertainty like 2011 since the sharp increases in value growth indicates resilience amongst them,” said Adrian Terron, Nielsen Company’s executive director (retailer and shopper).

     

    He said refined edible oil and instant coffee are examples of categories where value growth outpaced volume growth by 2-3 times. Of course, product prices have increased 2-8 per cent over past year, but Nielsen says the effect has more to do with shopping behaviour.

     

    Spencer’s Retail chief (operations and merchandising) Mohit Kampani said nearly 30 per cent of growth that Spencer’s Retail posted across its 189 outlets was from consumers upgrading purchases last year. “This is also because the price points of products being stocked have widened considerably. A year ago, skincare brands would have been priced between 10 and 800 while today it is between 10 and 2,200,” he said.

     

    Devendra Chawla, president (Food Bazaar category) of India’s largest retailer Future Group, said value-added categories are incubated at modern trade outlets: “A lot more cookies, cream and health biscuits have been launched in the past 18 months than mass biscuits, which makes value contribution higher, although the category is growing double digits by volume.”

     

    Even in personal care, anti-ageing and performance creams are growing much faster than general-purpose creams.

     

    HUL’s Tiwary said it sometimes launch certain pack sizes in modern trade first and then in other channels. Future Group’s Chawla said launch of international foods is also contributing to this trend. This includes packaged cheese, international pasta and brands like Choco Pie among biscuits and Ferrero Rocher in chocolates that are resulting in faster value growth than volume. Overall, modern trade is proving more profitable for marketers because profit margin is higher on premium products and large packets.

     

    Meanwhile, mobile phone and durable makers too report higher sale realisation in large chains due to rising demand for premium products. Research in Motion (RIM), makers of the BlackBerry smartphones, said Indian consumers are upgrading from feature mobile phones to smartphones. “This is boosting the average selling price of the handset market, even though overall demand is yet to pick up,” RIM India Managing Director Sunil Dutt said. He estimates that the smartphones market is growing 60-70 per cent a year in the country, while feature phones at 10-15 per cent.

     

    Panasonic India Managing Director Manish Sharma said: “Consumers are increasingly going for large screen televisions, which is pushing up value sales.” The average selling price of the company’s flat panel TV business has gone up by more than 5 per cent in six months.

     

    Korean brand Samsung too says sales of its high-end split ACs, frost-free refrigerators and smartphones are growing faster than lower-end products.

     

    Source: The Economic Times
    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • Of late, it has taken a beating globally, trounced by the iPhone on the one hand and a gamut of Android powered devices on the other

    What’s ailing RIM’s Blackberry drive globally & in India?

    By Ravi Balakrishnan

     

    Don’t let the kid on the next seat in the train, furiously typing away on his or her BlackBerry fool you. Despite the fact that Indian youth have bonded over BBM, the performance of the parent RIM and maybe even the launch of its latest product in India have revealed a number of holes in the phone maker’s strategy. BE asks what’s troubling BlackBerry, boys?

     

    Minutes before Research In Motion, the makers of BlackBerry, made an announcement at a press conference in Delhi, there was a definite vibe of anticipation. Tech hacks idly wondered just what was going to be unveiled, given that BlackBerry has a fairly conservative release schedule.

     

    The more optimistic were holding out for a glimpse of BlackBerry’s OS 10 rumoured among the brand’s faithful to be a potential Android-slaying, iOS-wrecking killer operating system; one that would propel BlackBerry back to the top of its game. But instead, BlackBerry amid much fanfare and celebrity preening unveiled the Curve 9220.

     

    At the Q&A and after, the questions flew thick and fast: why only a 2MP camera? Why no 3G? And why such a stiff price tag for a phone that lacked these two features?

     

    The device was launched at Rs10,990; inexpensive for brand BlackBerry, but a tad pricey compared to other mobiles, even smartphones if one considers budget Android models from Samsung, LG, Spice and Lava among others.

     

    The Curve offered unique features like a quick access BB messenger button and, critically, long battery life, something of a rarity in the smartphone category.

     

    FM radio, a feature that’s bog standard even for phones that are sold at a tenth of the cost, made its way to Blackberry Curve. But to an audience weaned on revolution, having to settle for evolution was a disappointment. It was a dangerous reaction for any company to deal with; especially a tech firm that’s been gradually losing its reputation as a pioneer.

     

    As one of the first smartphones, BlackBerry had a dream run starting with the enterprise segment and slowly making inroads into the consumer space. ‘Sent from my BlackBerry’ soon became a ubiquitous signature; first for emails from globetrotting CEOs and later among the rank and file as well. Except of late, it has taken a beating globally, trounced by the iPhone on the one hand and a gamut of Android powered devices on the other.

     

    Its most recent financial results reveal a loss of $125 million. And shipments of 11.1 million, down 21 per cent from the previous quarter. Reviews for its Torch series have been unenthusiastic and the game changing OS10 is expected to show only in the latter half of 2012. An industry insider said: “They decided to step back and relax and that cost them. The engine has stopped innovating for some time.”

     

    In some countries like India though, BlackBerry still counts among the contenders. According to Frost & Sullivan, it’s at the third place in the Indian smartphone market with a share of 15 per cent, trailing behind Nokia’s 35 per cent and Samsung’s 40 per cent. It’s attracted a strong app developer network of 30,000 in India up from 4,000 two years ago, according to a company source.

     

    More importantly, for a product that’s worldwide reputation veers towards the stodgy, it has a strong traction with the youth. Abhishek Chauhan, senior consultant, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East observed: “In India, they’ve been taking segmentation seriously, targeting the youth. I don’t feel India will be a danger space for them if they launch affordable devices and data plans for their consumers here.”

     

    The youth connect has been built in part on the back of initiatives like the BlackBerry Boys campaign; a co-branded effort with Vodafone, currently in its second year. On the distribution front too, BlackBerry was quick to realise there was a world beyond the metros. It is currently present across 250 cities and according to RIM India’s managing director, Sunil Dutt, it continues to expand.

     

    However, BlackBerry India has not remained unaffected by the pressures facing its parent. The pricing strategy has changed: the jury is out on just why this is happening and what it will lead to. Of late, there have been price cuts across its portfolio.

     

    Coupled with the relatively ‘inexpensive’ tag on the new phone, it indicates either a thawing on part of the company or an act of desperation depending on who you ask. Mr Dutt explains the price cuts: “Sometimes when you reach economies of scale, they allow you to pass on benefits to customers.” This becomes important as the phone reaches towns and cities that want the device but find the price tags forbidding.

     

    Mr Dutt has a different take on discounts. He believes they are not an indication of a brand in trouble but an invitation to consumers to be a part of an ecosystem and experience. “We want to reach more consumers. A lot of them want an affordable solution and we provide just that,” he said.

     

    Marketing consultant Shripad Nadkarni of MarketGate however cautioned that the strategy could well be a double edged sword: “It helps garner short term sales, but the brands future depends on how they keep in synch with innovations of the competition. They can reduce the price of existing products but need to buffer up the offering to be a serious player.”

     

    There seem to be several options and suggestions available to BlackBerry, many offered gratis by various tech columnists. Part of the problem according to industry pundits is that the brand strayed too far away from its enterprise roots and ran the risk of being “everything to everybody.”

     

    The industry insider said: “It is still a high stable platform that gets jobs done in least number of steps. They need to recognise what’s driving them as a company and drive it even harder. BlackBerry 10 could change the way people think about the  company. The question is whether it will be too little too late.”

     

    For the longest time, BlackBerry believed the experience its products offered was good enough for it to command a premium. Even as rivals ramped up the megapixels on cameras, and made their phones more music, game and leisure friendly, BlackBerry’s phones remained on a pound for pound basis, a tad underpowered.

     

    But with the competition evolving at a furious pace and throwing in more for less with each generation of phone, it may be a matter of time before even the BlackBerry boys begin to wonder if the experience is worth the price.

     

    Source: The Economic Times
    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • This initiative will also reward the fans with discounts and freebies at more than 100 partner stores, which have partnered with Deccan Chargers

    Now fans can own Deccan Chargers Team

    By A Correspondent

     

    Deccan Chargers, a popular IPL franchise on Monday announced a unique social media marketing initiative using Mojostreet (www.mojostreet.com) – a popular location based mobile game.

     

    The marketing initiative will allow fans to virtually own the Deccan Chargers team and watch the IPL matches from the Owners Lounge at the Hyderabad Stadium. This initiative will also reward the fans with discounts and freebies at more than 100 partner stores, which have partnered with Deccan Chargers.

     

    Making the announcement, Kalyan Manyam, CEO of Mojostreet said: “We are excited with the way Mojostreet is being used by brands acrossIndia. This unique initiative by Deccan Chargers will take the DC brand closer to its fans and increase engagement. I am sure Mojostreet users will be very excited to grab this opportunity to own the DC team.”

     

    E. Venkat Reddy, COO ofDeccanChargers said: “This is a first of its kind initiative in the world wherein a sports team is connecting with its fans virtually through a mobile game and rewarding them in the real world. We are confident this initiative will greatly contribute to the strong presence of the DC Brand in the digital world.”

     

    To virtually own the Deccan Chargers, a user needs to download Mojostreet on their smartphones (freely available on all major app stores) and then check-in at any of the partner outlets of Deccan Chargers listed on Mojostreet. Once a user completes a check-in, a special offer is delivered right on the users mobile screen.

     

    The same can be redeemed at the outlet in real-time. Users who check-in maximum at partner locations will get to virtually own the DC team and will get a chance to watch the matches from the Owners lounge at the Hyderabad stadium.

     

    Mojostreet (www.mojostreet.com) is a location based game, friend finder, city guide and loyalty rewards all rolled into one app for your smartphone. The app also helps one discover amazing places of their interest based on friend’s recommendations. Mojostreet has an online and mobile version. The mobile app is available for Blackberry, Nokia, iPhone and Android users. One can sign in with their Facebook or Twitter account to access Mojostreet.

     

    Deccan Chargers is an IPL franchise that represents the city ofHyderabadin the Indian Premier League. The Deccan Chargers franchise is owned by the Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited. Deccan Chronicle is the largest circulated daily in South India.

     

    Deccan Chargers turned the tide in their favour by winning the second season of IPL -2009 inSouth Africaand making it to the semi-finals in the IPL-2010.

     

    The Deccan Chargers mascot represents a raging bull signifying strength, power and aggression while the red and gold bands on the flag stand for dominance and victory.

     

  • Unless a brand can stay relevant enough for customers (existing and prospective) they are in serious danger of losing mind share – and therefore eventually, wallet share, says Abraham Alapatt

    The Anchor: Abraham Alapatt on 5 Ways a Brand survives with intense competition

    By Abraham Alapatt

     

    1. Relevance:

    As a category gets crowded and differentiation gets blurred, the biggest challenge for a brand to survive both with existing customers (survival) and to appeal to prospects (growth) is to become and stay relevant to the customer’s life and lifestyle. Unless a brand can stay relevant enough for customers (existing and prospective) they are in serious danger of losing mind share – and therefore eventually, wallet share.

     

    Category relevance may be relatively easier in some categories that are frequently used/discussed – cars, mobile phones/providers, FMCG and personal care products, fashion and lifestyle  and so on, because category relevance is a given. The challenge for brands in these categories is to remain constantly relevant to the customer’s evolving needs and aspirations in these categories where competitors are constantly changing the boundaries of relevance either at product/service/technology level or at a brand/imagery/status level.

     

    On the other hand, brands operating in relatively less “involved” categories like furniture, cement, insurance and others – need to constantly find ways to “create” category relevance and then brand relevance to stay relevant within the category. They usually attempt to do this with innovations, service +1s, etc.

     

    2. Personalization:

    Again, as categories (and brands within them) grow exponentially, “impersonalization” in product/service/process begins to become the norm – to handle the growing number of customers and resultant demands.

     

    Successful brands (especially in service categories) use this opportunity (provided by current market leaders being “impersonal”) to target a growing set of customers and prospects who are disgruntled with this and who demand/seek a higher degree of personalization or customization, by tapping into their innate need for recognition and acknowledgement.

     

    Customers (especially the more educated/affluent) increasingly demand to be “recognized” as individuals/names and not merely by a number/ID. Brands in the service space that manage to balance the need for this personalization with the added economic price that this entails are able to not just retain their existing customers, but actually grow their business because they do this effectively. Banks, especially the private-foreign banks and airlines demonstrate this well, using highly developed HNW programs with exclusive personalization privileges to their most valuable customers.

     

    3. Relationships:

    In tough times, the power of relationships to sustain and grow business cannot be overstated. The most powerful marketing brands, actually invest more heavily in building customer/prospects relationships during slow/recessionary periods as they see the very tangible benefits of this intangible asset.  So whether it’s an Apple (that grew/grows exponentially even when their peers like RIM/Blackberry are going out of business) or an Indigo Airlines that breaks even and declares record profits while the aviation industry is reeling from its worst years in recent history – there are enough examples to suggest that powerful brand-customer relationships can see brands through the toughest competitive phases.

     

    4. Transparency & fairness:

    Across the world, one of the most frequently used attributes used by loyal customers of their favourite brand and (alternately, one of the most often heard causes for customers to reject/move away from their existing brand) is transparency/fairness of dealings or their absence.

     

    Customers expect a fair and transparent relationship with their brands. So from the advertising to the salesperson’s pitch, from the showroom experience to the call centre response, from the application form to the statement/bill, from the welcome letter to the post sales complaint/service handling – brands that want to survive a hostile competitive environment, need to ensure that their processes are simple, easy to understand/use and their technology platform capable and robust enough to ensure error free billing/service and so on.

     

    Banks like HDFC inIndiahave demonstrated that fair, understated and transparent efficiency work with customers as well (if not better) than some of their peer banks that are a lot bigger, flashier and more aggressive.

     

    5. Consistency of service quality:

    Seemingly the most obvious, but sadly often the most overlooked. The mobile network that is often down/out of range, the bank ATM that is down often, the mutual fund that delivers consistently below the benchmark index/market, the car that breaks down often – these are often the most likely causes for customers to move away from their existing brands – especially when competition is tough and enticing them with juicy deals.

     

    Poor or inconsistent service obviously does little to retain customers during these testing times. Brands that want to survive and even grow during tough competitive times, would do well to review their basic product/service delivery quality and consistency to ensure it is on par if not better than peers – or run the risk of losing their customers much faster and easier than they gained them.

     

    Abraham Alapatt is Senior Vice President & Head – Brand & Corporate Communication at Future Generali India Life Insurance Company & Future Generali India Insurance Company

     

  • These mobility solutions have specially been designed to bring the power of internet job search on mobile

    Naukri.com launches job search apps for iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices and HTML5 site

    By A Correspondent

     

    Naukri.com, India’s no 1 job site introduces free job search apps on mobile for all smart phone users. This includes special apps for Iphone, Blackberry and android devices and an exclusive HTML5 site. In today’s world, where everyone is competing to be ahead of time, these applications will provide jobseekers an efficient and customized way to search and apply for jobs even on the move. These mobility solutions have specially been designed to bring the power of internet job search on mobile, thus ensuring that their users never miss out on any opportunity.

     

    Both the mobile app and the site are enriched with features which allow jobseekers to filter job openings by location, keywords, functional area, experience bracket and minimum expected salary. Also, users can create up to 5 custom job alerts on the basis of the search criterion defined by them. These job alerts are directly sent to the users’ inbox 3 times a week. To make job search further convenient and mobile friendly, as soon as the user logs into the site it will automatically recommend jobs on the basis of the information provided during the profile creation process. Jobseekers can view the detailed job descriptions and apply in a secure and confidential environment – directly from their mobile devices.

     

    It will be an added boon for employers as well because it acts as an additional platform to reach to their target audience. With the introduction of this mobile site, the response time for jobs posted will be reduced considerably and thus recruiters will be able to cater to a larger audience within a short span of time. This site has specially been designed keeping in mind the need and convenience of a mobile user.

     

    Commenting on the same, Vibhore Sharma, EVP, Technology, Naukri.com said: “Mobile devices are bringing about a revolution in the way people use internet and consume content from the web and smartphones are the new basic phones that would eventually engage users more than a PC. With the launch of our apps and (re-purposed) website for mobile devices, we aim to offer our users the ability to continue their job search on the go and never miss out on a career opportunity.”

     

    This HTML5 site has been optimized to work with all popular smart phones. Further, through this platform jobseekers can also manage and update their Naukri profile effortlessly and conveniently. Users can keep a track on how many times their CV has been viewed by an employer and also which companies have they applied for jobs earlier. Thus, this bouquet of mobile solutions will make job search simpler, productive and much more efficient.

     

    Naukri.com, India’s No. 1 job site and the flagship brand of Info Edge revolutionized the concept of recruitment in India. The site enjoys a traffic share of around 61% as per the Aug Comscore data.

     

    Naukri.com is a recruitment platform that provides hiring-related services to corporates/recruiters, placement agencies and to job seekers in India and overseas.

     

  • The most-read business daily launches applications for all mobile and tablet formats.

    Economic Times, now on mobile and tablet

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Economic Times,India’s most-read business newspaper and most-visited business and finance site, has now launched mobile applications for the iPad, iPhone, Android phone, BlackBerry, Nokia and Windows Phone.

     

    The apps combine ET’s cutting edge business news and market analysis with the best browsing experience, thanks to the simple navigation and clutter-free layout.

     

    The applications have been designed keeping in mind the audiences’ preference for live coverage of the business news and markets. All the apps provide in-depth and analytical coverage of the stock markets, with live stock quotes from BSE and NSE.  The sleek user-friendly apps feature the latest and most important news as it happens, along with the choicest of analysis and features from ET’s print editions.

     

    These apps also provide forex rates, commodities updates and news about the global markets. Stock recommendations and experts’ views from ET Now are featured through the market hours. Users can also track the stocks on their watch-list and monitor live gainers, losers and movers.

     

    Announcing the launch of these applications, Rishi Khiani, CEO of Times Internet Ltd, said: “This stack of ET Mobile apps fill an important need for ET readers. Within a short time of launch, ET’s iPad & iPhone apps topped the most popular charts on the Apple website. We have received a phenomenal response to our Android app as well. The latest entrants to our portfolio are apps for both Nokia Symbian/Anna smartphones and also for Windows. All the apps will be constantly upgraded and more features added in the weeks to come.”

     

    All Economic Times applications let users share articles or photos on Facebook and Twitter, and also via e-mail.