Moby Dick on a Stick

Whale meat resurfaces on Iceland menus.

Diners at the upscale Lobster House restaurant in Reykjavik, Iceland can enjoy familiar appetizers such as lobster bisque or smoked eel. But the hot new starter is minke whale sashimi with wasabi crust and a shot of ginger tea on the side.

"It's traditional food made in a modern way," says chef Ulrich Jahn, who is now perfecting whale ceviche -- raw, thinly carved slices marinated in lime juice, lemon grass and garlic.

The recipes are mouthwatering to Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson, the man on a mission to introduce whale meat to a new generation of prosperous Icelanders.

After a 20-year ban on commercial whaling, Iceland in 2006 resumed limited hunting of minke whale, one of the smallest and most numerous of the main whale species. Mr. Jonsson is the sole landlubber at the country's only licensed whaling company, Hrefnuveidimenn ehf. Marketing is among his many tasks.

However, the marketing for it remains a challenge, especially to the younger generation. Iceland and Japan are among the few countries that still hunt whales amid global opposition.

Read on about this interesting story here.

TATA NEN -- Hottest start-ups

In its search for the most innovative start-ups in India, the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) in association with the Tata group has launched the Tata NEN Hottest Startups awards. In a first of its kind contest, winners will be chosen through a public voting process, rather than a panel of experts. The voting begins today.

Some of the startups include Seventymm, MobiYard, oCricket, Stylus, Lucifer Lights, MobiLearnTV, Rupeetalk, The Loot.

Check out the competition site (www.hotteststartups.in) for more details. on the complete list of nominations, reviewing experts, nominee profiles, and ratings and additional entrepreneurial resources. The site is indeed a well of knowledge and creative ideas, even for the non-participants. I personally like the sections -- Knowledge bank, Bright ideas and Fun Box, among others.

Unique Story Proposition -- the new USP

Advertising works in today's interactive world if it tells interesting stories that resonate with the viewer.

Forget the hard sell. Advertising works in today’s interactive world if it tells interesting stories that resonate with the viewer and don’t bore her even after repeated airings. Still, the ad man as a storyteller is a role rife with dichotomies: is it possible to be a friend of the viewer and also sell to her? Besides, if stories are usually equated with fiction, can they be truthful—without the hyperbole and posturings of being eco-conscious, or socially responsible?

Paul Woolmington, co-founder, Naked Communications, tells me the word storytelling does not mean ad men are creating fiction; instead, it is about how messaging evolves and builds engaging consumers.

Woolmington’s point: Today, brands stand nude in front of the consumer than ever before, requiring changes in the way we communicate. With infinite channel choices and new media, a one dimensional world of push communications has to make way for four-dimensional storytelling where the agency, or the advertiser cedes control of the message to the consumer. These stories need to be rooted in an authentic base and dialogue, but play out in a non-traditional, non-linear way. Thus, marketing moves away from being a mere hawker when consumers are an integral part of the dialogue, he says.

Ad pundits say that the story should be born from the brand’s raison d’etre. There’s a unique story (not selling) proposition (USP), which every piece of communication should cue into, they say. Pepsi’s stories, for instance, are about change. The pundits add that customers, stakeholders, employees, distributors and others should co-write the brand story and take it forward.

The brand’s story need not always be told. It’s usually experienced at each and every point of consumer contact: packaging, retail and service. Genuine product promise and innovation, not advertising, made Bodyshop an iconic brand. Its parallel in the digital world could be Google, recently voted as the most reputed company in America.

More importantly, the brand story must never appear false, or contradictory. Unilever’s Dove tells a great story of real beauty, though online talk that the ads used touch-up artists did cause some dissonance.

A classic story should be built on enduring brand values, but capable of entertaining and surprising—with twists in the tale and space for creative change. I’ve loved the ongoing brand stories of Apple, Nike, Adidas, Fevicol, Matrix, Cadbury…all high on USP.

Above all, a great story should move you enough to open your purse—after unlocking your heart.

Source: Marion Arathoon

Fight For Kisses

Well-o-well! You gotta check out this viral, which has climbed up in my personal favourites list. It's a commercial for Wilkinson Quattro Titanium blades, launched in 2007.

Animated brilliantly, it tells about how there's always a fight for the kisses, from the lady in the house, between her baby and her husband. You definitely gotta watch it!

Mardaangiri

Well, as one of the takeaways from the Marketing Summit mentioned in the post below, is the newest definition of MBA -- Mard Bachao Andolan. This is a pseudo public service ad featuring Sanjay Dutt, lashing out at metrosexuals and urging the Indian men to be more 'manly'. It is actually a surrogate ad for Haywards 5000 beer.

Haywards 5000 has initiated a Mard Bachao Andolan, whose objective is to rescue Indian men from the jaws of sissy drinks, coloured hair, pomeranian dogs, salsa, cooking Thai food, etc. Good luck to them!

I won!!

One of my favourite quotes is:

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

My answer to that would be August 29, 2008. Today, I won a cash prize worth Rs. 10, 000/- for the first time in my life! I have won numerous prizes in quizzing and dumb charades but never a cash prize. I have won all sort of things from a fish bowl to CDs to gift vouchers to blessings but a cash prize had always eluded me somehow. It was a very weird feeling till now when I used to see people -- juniors as well as seniors, walking away with all the moolah. But thankfully, the jinx is broken now.

For those of you who care to know what did I win the prize for ... well, it was the annual Marketing Summit & National Level Paper Writing Contest at IMI, Delhi called Srijan'08. The title of my research paper was "Innovations in Sales & Distribution".

But, jinhe naaz hai voh kahan hain?

1984 in 1954

Check out these front and back book covers for 1984 on Amazon, posted by David Rolfe.

They are from the 1954 Signet (#S798) paperback edition, and are quite unlike the covers for any other editions that I've seen for Orwell's most well-known novel, which tend toward minimalism, with the numerical title almost always taking up the majority of the space.

In case you can't read the over-the-top text on the back cover (which manages to not mention Winston Smith, Julia, O'Brien, Room 101, Ingsoc, or Oceania), here's what it says:

Which One Will YOU Be In the Year 1984?

There won't be much choice, of course, if this book's predictions turn out to be true. But you'll probably become one of the following four types:

Proletarian--Considered inferior and kept in total ignorance, you'll be fed lies from the Ministry of Truth, eliminated upon signs of promse of ability!

Police Guard--Chosen for lack of intelligence but superior brawn, you'll be suspicious of everyone and be ready to give your life for Big Brother, the leader you've never even seen!

Party Member: Male--Face-less, mind-less, a flesh-and-blood robot with a push-button brain, you're denied love by law, taught hate by the flick of a switch!

Party Member: Female--A member of the Anti-Sex League from birth, your duty will be to smother all human emotion, and your children might not be your husband's!

Unbelievable? You'll feel differently after you've read this best-selling book of forbidden love and terror in a world many of us may live to see!

P. S. -- Note the button on the girl's shirt: 'AntiSex League.' Heh!

Source: Jason

Positioning paradox

This post deals with the power of simplicity in marketing and explains some important terms in marketing.

The superstars in branding are the ones who have cracked the “positioning paradox”. The positioning paradox says that in branding, the more features you show, the less you are seen. The more details you provide, the more vaguely you communicate. The more directions you give, the harder it is to be located. The higher the number, the lower the value. That’s why it’s called a paradox.

Amateurs are afraid to leave even a single feature or benefit on the table, fearing they’ll lose some corner of the market. So they say everything, and communicate nothing. It’s the “bed of nails” effect in reverse. A bed with a single nail sticking out will penetrate the second you lie down. But a thousand nails can’t penetrate anything. The pressure of each nail is completely diffused by all the others around it.

The positioning paradox is also behind many other axioms. For example, the “least number of words” principle. Generally, the shorter and crisper the expression of the core idea, the greater the impact. Messaging can be shorter and crisper when the idea is singular: ADP—the payroll company; Rolex—the luxury watch; Duracell—the longest-lasting battery, etc.

This is all common sense. But still many companies fail to realize that and deluge its audience with heavy showers of mindless 'extra' information, losing the main message they want to convey. Thus, apt is the conclusion that the simplest message wins.

Evolution of Gmail Chat

Well, it's always good to read about what goes inside the world's biggest facilitator amongst all the Web 2.0 companies -- the inveterate Google. So, here comes the confessions, the insider stories and usable technology ideas, straight from the horse's mouth i.e. the official Google blog. Read here to find out about the evolution of Gmail chat -- how it is a result of very obvious and simple design ideas.

The Google Saree

Satya Paul adds a new dimension to search:



Too bad there wasn’t a kid behind wearing Yahoo boxer shorts.

[Source: Who else?]

Contract cheating

British students are using Indian expertise in information technology to complete their course assignments by posting them on outsourcing websites and buying the completed coursework.

Called “contract cheating” in academic circles, lecturers in computing department in universities are in a tizzy since such coursework is of high quality and difficult to detect through normal plagiarism detection software.

The students pay amounts ranging from £5 to 50 for the completed coursework that they then pass off as their own work and gain their degrees. The trend is particularly seen in IT courses, in which students need to write programmes.

Well, that's the power of outsourcing!

Read the full story here.

Method in madness

Well, it's been a long time that I blogged. A lot of movement has taken place and lots have happened. Writing about everything is not possible and not consequential either. So, just a few basic updates.

I'm back in Delhi, after spending 2 lovely months in Chennai -- the place where I started this blog! In between, I spent a week in Chandigarh, at home. The 2nd year of MBA at IIFT is about to start in a couple of days and the madness is about to begin again. How I wish that there were no more of studies! But anyhow, I can't help it and have to live with it.

I've moved to the new hostel and boy oh boy, it was painful to shift all my belongings to the new room and then set it up. But now it's done, almost everything's in order. The new room is far better than the room of the old hostel and is the only good part thus far. Hence worth the pain to set it up. So, I'm all geared up to face the next war! Wish me luck.

Sisters & brothers

I don't have a sibling. Did I miss having one? Not particularly. Being the lone child, I'm the pampered one. I got all the love & affection my parents could give. I got almost everything what was reasonable to ask for. I fared well in academics as well as in extra-curricular activities. But for long, I didn't have any body to share things which you wouldn't normally share with your parents. I had a good friend circle but still it wasn't close enough to penetrate my thoughts -- me being a typical Cancerian. I mostly tried to figure out everything by my self. Be it issues related to life, adolescence, family fights, studies, comics -- anything and everything. My parents were there for me always, all the time. And I just loved the growing up period. I used to hang out with my father for a very long time. For shopping, for a cup of coffee, even for a walk beside the lake, I went out with my dad! We shared an amazing chemistry. And mom was there to put us right back on earth when we both of us shopped too extravagantly or didn't get something to suit her tastes. That was just so much fun. So, I never really missed having a brother or a sister.

Luckily, I have a few cousins with whom I spent many of my school vacations. Out of them, I have 3 loving sisters. And I love them all. Today, the youngest one -- A, chatted with me for the first time on Google Talk. She had added me a few days ago on Orkut (with a caution though -- not to tell her mom about it). She used all the short words in vogue today and the related lingo. I kind of enjoyed it. Before this we had never really 'talked' with each other apart from the usual bro-sis talks in front of relatives -- Hi, how're you? How're studies? Exams? Work? Job theek hai na? Aur mujhe kya karna chahiye? Kuch guide karo na bhaiya... Blah.

Today, we talked something different. She asked me whether I remember her birthday or not. I quickly checked up on her Orkut profile and blurted out the date to her surprise. I later found out that she's turning 18 years next month. I was taken aback for a moment. She! My little sister has grown up to 18! Man. I calculated my age and suddenly felt old -- turning 25 years in a couple of months! Anyway, she wanted to talk. And so we did. You might have already guessed. She told me about her boyfriend on my constant query. She was hesitant first but then poured her feelings like anything. 2 boyfriends, one whom she loves, one who loves her, 1 year into it. Advice bhaiya, advice! Well, feeling happy that she could trust me for not telling about all this to her mom, I gave her some advice (actually, in these matters, no advice works and it is quite pointless but anyway). Before she could even thank me or ask some more, her mom came nearby and she quickly logged off.

I thought what would it have been to have a sister. I had previously had such long talks with my other cousin sister, another A. We'll leave this for future musings though. But something happened today. I don't know what.

Are there any alternative pronunciations?

Well, we Indians have a way with words, even if the rest of the (western) world thinks otherwise. ;)

Sameer Mishra, a 13-year old boy of Indian origin, has won the title at the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee, as reported here. He correctly spelt the word guerdon -- meaning 'something that has different language roots'.

I keenly watch this contest whenever it comes on TV. This is the story for the past several years. I also take pride in the fact that my spelling sense isn't that bad and wish (still) that something of this sort should be there in India as well. I just love this show. And what amazes me is the cornucopia of wordpower which these lads have. Every year, Indians rule the roost over there. If you have watched this show, you'll understand the part when the participants ask the judges in their heavy accents, rolling their tongues: 'Are there any a(w)lter(r)native pronunciations?' or 'May I have the language of origin please.' Then they go on to spell even the toughest words you could ever think of, with utmost ease -- A-P-P-O-G-G-I-A-T-U-R-A. Ha! It's damn interesting. That's what Anurag Kashyap spelt to win the 2005 contest by the way. How I wish to participate in one of these contests ...

Bhatt on AB, SRK, Aamir

Talent -- Mahesh Bhatt, on being asked what Emraan Hashmi had that Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan didn’t. (as reported by ToI on June 1, 2008)

Heh!