facebook, advertising and brand custodians

Today morning the first page that I opened was facebook. Its always been gmail and before that, it was google.

In many ways facebook has changed my life. Not that it was the first social network that i've been or that I've found most of my friends and added them compared to any other network (vice versa) and never give a damn, probably don't even drop a hi.

But being in advertising here's how;

Over a period of time Facebook has evolved from a social network to a brand network - it is more of a business tool (social MEDIA) than a social network that it was. Facebook pages now function as websites for brands and draw way more hits and responses online than the websites of any brand ever did.

Like most websites and networks FB uses data - about you, me, our friends to understand us and send us targeted advertising. So its just another website that uses analytics, data mining and a whole of other jargon to send you relevant ads, for which they charge respective clients on a CPC or CPI/CPM models or find any new fancy pants way to charge them.

And while they do this, they get amazing FREE advertising worth billions of dollars across almost every damn media vehicle. Their self-promotion is completely through other brands who use their services.

Every brand has a tagline "join us on facebook.com/xxxxxxxx" this being blared in radio, in TV shows, print ads, hoardings, posters, websites, on t-shirts and generally anywhere anyone finds place be it even your or my ass. And most of brands now want to flash their "facebook badge" and page id, bigger than ever, maybe even bigger than their own logo.

Mark Zuckerberg, you are a fucking genius. You get free advertising from brand managers. You get the same brand managers to pay to use your service. You also get them to plaster your logo across everywhere.

TATA vs TATA

I've always loved the TATA's. Apparently they stand for trust (which I was taught) and for IT, Cabs, Cars, Cheaper Cars, Expensive Cars, Luxury Cars, CDMA Telecom, GSM Telecom, Broadband Internet, Mobile Internet, Steel, Manufacturing, Engineering, Energy, Tea, Foods, Chemicals, Retail, Watches, Jewellery, Hospitality...ok, now this may go on, and maybe they have holdings some other billion companies, lets get to the point.

I recently made an interesting observation, where they stood for Confusion. Sometimes when a brand name is plastered across various segments/verticals/business domains or whatever it jus leads to confusion. With the every brand manager wanting his share of the Tata logo, the brand is probably most recognized. So yea, I was at a Tata Indicom store recently to settle my bill; there walks in a guy, about 45, who wanted to recharge his Tata Docomo connection. To his dismay the guy found out that he had to locate a Tata Docomo store and go there, boy was he pissed, here is a transcript of the conversation (translated from tamil):

Guy: Sir, I want to recharge my prepaid

Service rep: No sir, We're Tata Indicom, we deal with CDMA and not GSM, for that you need to goto the Docomo Store.

Guy: But you guys are the same Tata Company right? and its a mobile service? why do you have separate stores? Why can't you have it here?

S.P: Sir, we are different and they're, they're are tie up with docomo

Guy: So what? still u are TATA na? why can't all your Tata stores which offer mobile services be together?

S.P: Sir, I don't know sir, That only the company can decide, I just work here. You have to goto Tata Docomo sir.

Guy: what companies you guys run, people like me have to go there, here and everywhere. What kind of customer service is this?

Guy (mumbling): wat a useless company! they offer mobile services in separate shops...blah blah

Meanwhile, I had to leave, couldn't gather the rest of his mumbling.

On a lighter note, the best I can say is, confuse your customers, diversify, they'll never know where to complain :D

5 years to nirvana

ok yeah. Maybe it sounds lame, given that am the not so very philosophical types. but here goes.

Its been 5 years. Working for someone. Working for an organisation. I started working on April 1st, 2005 (ok yea, what an day to start a career?! go figure) and finally walked out on March 31st, 2010.

I worked in an industry that pays peanuts, promises a lot. You see, its not only the ads that promise a lot to the ever so smart consumer who most often doesn't give a shit about it, the best part is when we kick research to figure out what he thinks - while he is most probably thinking "why are u guys eating my brains out". The industry too promises a lot.

Promise. The industry thrives on that - some call this promise "getting orgasmic when you see your work on TV/ papers/mags". Its a place where everyone believes and are often made to believe they're creatively "gifted" and are so different in a world among the homogeneous morons in other industries - namely clients, bankers, IT, manufacturing and what not.. quite simple which they believe are in the same league as cleaning gutters, changing bulbs on street lamps, collecting garbage.

Some my best moments have been in conversations with people wanting to join the industry, or even in the industry - so why did you end up in advtg?? - you see am the creative type, am a very creative person. So then i ask "how are you creative?" - most often blank looks are thrown around like I asked something nasty about their parentage or asked them to derive e=mc2, or they say stuff like "i write poems" "i paint" and I go "wow".

And in this sense some of us believe we're gifts to humanity, jesus christ 2.0, kalki 20xx and buddha reincarnated.

We are used to believing that all other jobs are boring to death and we the creme of the creme, now it doesn't matter that you're annually paid 1/3rd of what an entry level exec takes home per month at the clients side.

this is the philosophy we operate:

1. We have glamour

2. We have fun @ work coz we don't work most often - the best part is when we choose to "think" for the creative idea.

3. We think every product sucks (especially our own clients, the competitors product is always better than our clients)

4. We are creative, we're cool, we love awards - which we give ourselves and then over which we fight crying foul

5. We like firang stuff, like to sell firang stuff, love firang awards & firang porn.

all right. my raves and ranting apart, I still dunno why I love it. Am the rambling on this stops here.

So yeah, where was I? five years to nirvana. so 5 years in a mayhem of an industry has taught me lots from where I started. One of the most important things I've learned is this. When I stepped into a job, I always thought and believed that I'll be "the ambitious" - work hard, move up the ladder fast.

Turns out, everyone else is the same. As naive as that sounds, it did really open my eyes.

In these 5 years of working in multiple organisations and handling many clients, I am yet to meet a person who isn't ambitious. Well it adds up like this, that we're a part of the same society, values, similar educational systems and heck yea everyone believes he/she can be CEO and wants to be one. And I realised I am in this rat race.

Somewhere while ambition grew, I also had dreams. In a career path most of us are ambitious, and I guess that's the way it is to be. We slog it out to beat the rest of us, which is what I was. In these five years I was quite simply chasing my ambition, like everyone else does. And then one fine day I decided to see what happens if I chase my dreams. I QUIT.

As difficult as ambitions may appear, chasing them with a plan and right spirit does get you somewhere up there, or atleast close to it. Chasing a dream is very different, I've started to already "feel" that. And in my case chasing many is stupid and probably weird, but heck yea, I can atleast say "I tried" the day I turn 50 something and retire with 4 dogs.

And yea, before I finish, just incase you also get inspired (heh he) a forewarning: Sometimes dreams aren't dreams, they just happen to be nightmares or turn into one. All da best!

cheers!

treasure hunt

I was recently shopping at crossword and found posters saying "wear the old coat/hat and buy the new book"

It led me to wonder, the days I used to shop for books from second hand book shops.

the treasure hunt

One of the lovable things about being able to shop in an old book shop is simply what i call the treasure hunt. Unlike LF bookstores like landmark, crossword, odyssey etc where books are arranged by categories, labels and ISBN no.s that help me quickly identify what i want or would inevitably take me to my most favourite category by default, old book shops are haphazard and random. With no order, no categories to lead me to anything that i normally would, i tend to browse more and explore more types of books from recipes (which i never have) to what not. And more often than not I end up seeing something so interesting in a genre i otherwise wouldn't have ventured into. And so the treasure hunt begins....

price: of all the advantages, the price is the most tangilble one, considering I spend a lot of time browsing (which I do enjoy, and don't pay for)

the character: I think books have a character that they develop over ages when more people read them, mark them, rip them. They tell a story beyond their pages. I love the dog ears and brownish-yellow pages to crumbling pages. all of it.

the surprise: besides the story they carry and the character, most often some end up with little leaves, wrappers, notes, cash, dead bugs...et al. you name it. i have been surprised to see what all you can find inside an old book.

dates: most have the original owners name/ gifters name & date. it leaves me a lot to wonder about the person who read this book, how they looked, what they did for a living (some even leave their qualifications embedded), where they lived and virtually a mini bio data. In this case "the older the date, the better"

the aroma: i love the smell of books, old or new. as the gum, binding and paper ages with increasing acidity and a host of other masalas which may have spilt over the book. a book develops an aroma that is omnipresent in all libraries and old book shops alike. i love it.

Though i do buy at crosswords & landmarks of the world., old book shops have a special place, coz they tell a story beyond their pages, so i may not always buy the new book or print.

image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/untums/533118282/