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Tag: Dr Vijay Mallya

  • The dust is beginning to settle on both the above issues. But am sure the next scandal is just round the corner. What’s the IPL without some offline tamasha?

    Anil Thakraney: On the great IPL scandals

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    I had been traveling all of last week, but I kept track of the IPL shenanigans as and when I could. Since the news channels and the social media folks were busy discussing two sensational incidents of last week, allow me to add my two-bits. And I’ll cut to the chase, as always.

     

    Firstly, on the Shah Rukh Khan versus Wankhede security personnel battle. If SRK’s kids and their pals did not have passes to enter the stadium, the security guards had every reason to demand their immediate removal. Kids will be kids, and it’s highly likely that they would run onto the pitch. There have been allegations that the kids were ‘molested’. I think that’s utter crap. Had that been the case, garam khoon Mr SRK would not have settled for maa bahen ki gaalis, he would have dispatched a few souls to the nearby Bombay Hospital. Also, guards molesting kids on an open ground when the IPL office bearers and players are still at the venue is a preposterous idea to even imagine.

     

    Net net: King Khan’s fat ego (and maybe his booze-influenced head) got the better of him, and he lost control. Ergo, it’s correct that the MCA has banned him. Though given the star’s super heavy connections; that would soon be lifted. But, hats off to the security men who stood up to him. It’s very, very rare in a celeb and VIP obsessed India for lowly officials to take on a heavy weight. I think these guys should be bestowed with an honour.

     

    Next: The incident in Delhi where a drunken IPL player allegedly molested a lady inside her hotel room. That’s a criminal case, and we will have to leave the investigation to the local cops. No one has the right to pass any moral judgments. But Mallya Jr’s tweet was beyond disgusting. It not only denigrated the woman in question, his rant exposed the dude’s sick mindset towards women in general. If Dr Vijay Mallya is a good dad, he needs to send darling beta for counseling, ASAP. And he must also insist that the brat disconnects his twitter account. Junior is not just busy bringing disrepute to his family – he’s reflecting a very poor image of the entire UB group.

     

    It’s Sunday evening as I write this piece. The dust is beginning to settle on both the above issues. But am sure the next scandal is just round the corner. What’s the IPL without some offline tamasha? Aisa mauka aur kahaan milega, bhaiyya?

     

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    PS: “If You’re Not Pissing Someone Off, You’re Probably Not Innovating.” An interesting read from the Harvard Biz Review. On what innovation really means and how marketers must do things differently in order to make a real impact.

     

    Link: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/05/if_youre_not_pissing_someone_o.html

     

     

  • It would hurt Dr Vijay Mallya's pride if his pet project got killed. But there's no place for ego and emotion in business

    Anil Thakraney on 9 reasons why KFA must shut shop

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Dr Vijay Mallya is in no mood to entertain talks about shutting down his messy airline. He is a proud man, and it would hurt his pride if his pet project got killed. But there’s no place for ego and emotion in business, every die hard dhandhewala knows that. Here’s why I think it’s better to ground Kingfisher Airlines Limited (KFA).

     

    1. Dr Mallya doesn’t get this business at all.

     

    2. Running an airline is not the same thing as running a liquor company. Or sailing on a private yacht. Or anchoring Page 3 parties. Or owning an IPL cricket team.

    Totally different sets of rules apply.

     

    3. Kingfisher’s continuing crisis has badly hurt Dr Mallya’s own image as that of a man who can do no wrong. This is damaging his credibility as an industrialist.

     

    4. Because it’s a brand extension, the airline’s very poor image in the market could harm UB group’s cash cow beer brand, Kingfisher Lager. It’s not a risk worth taking anymore.

     

    5. Even if Dr Mallya decides to run KFA as a totally low cost, zero frills airline to slash operating expenses drastically, it will backfire as this strategy doesn’t gel with the stated brand position of ‘Good Times’. So it makes no sense to be around from the marketing point of view either.

     

    6. The huge inconvenience and financial losses Kingfisher has been causing to thousands of flyers across the nation because of cancelled flights will have seriously eroded brand preference. And this situation in the hospitality industry has a cascading effect. Loyalty once lost is very hard to gain back. Just to give you can example: GoAir once cancelled a flight I was booked on at the nth hour, and I have sworn never to touch them again.

     

    7. The KFA staff is highly demotivated. I don’t even want to discuss the ramifications if the airline’s maintenance engineers don’t do their jobs with care.

     

    8. There’s not much hope in his son and heir to the throne, young Sid Mallya. The way he dives into verbal clashes with aggrieved KFA flyers on Twitter is a clear indication that the dude does not fit in with the service business.

     

    9. Dr Mallya doesn’t get this business at all.

     

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    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuiEKm5dDrY[/youtube]

    PS: Not a very recent commercial, but a must watch in case you missed it. Super one from Playstation. Fantastic understanding of the target audience, and totally exciting creative.