Commentators and Salesmen

CWG was a great marketing platform for a variety of sports. People saw athletes in action, winning medals and in the process making the sport popular. With that a hope arises that youngsters will follow them and in the process make India reach out to the world. More than that, make the sport reach out to Indians, making it as popular as Cricket. The process may be on and the change happening but can they reach Cricket's level of popularity and more importantly sustain that popularity? Tough. Very tough. Yes, there are many variables like more exposure, more games, more facilities etc etc. But one thing that I believe has played a pivotal role in marketing cricket is the commentary!

The difference between the cricket's commentators and the ones of the other sports was evident in the recently concluded CWG coverage. In cricket, since childhood we have been fed on the nitty gritty of the game. It has been helped by Gavaskers, Shastris, Bhogles who know the intricacies of the game and articulate it very well.
Why do We know that if there is grass on the pitch, it will be good for the fast bowlers and if it is a dry pitch having cracks,  spinners are going to rule the roost? Not because we know the science behind it. But because it was drilled into us again and again, match after match in the extensive pitch reports.  Keys were pushed in the pitch, the cracks were shown clearly, the grass or absence of it was clearly pointed out along with the implications. The 8 odd hours was literally a cricket classroom if you had the patience to sit and watch the whole match. And I am sure there are plenty of atleast my generation who have sat there listening intensly for 100 overs and more.

The knowledge of all the nuances of the game makes it interesting. You get more involved because you understand. And when you understand, you can talk and debate. And when something gets people talking, then it is.. well, popular!!
An understanding of why the sports person is doing something in a certain way enhances the experience of watching the game. I saw sports like Boxing, Wrestling and couldn't understand when and why they were being awarded points. What are the strategies employed? We saw boxers leading comfortably but still going for aggression in the final round rather than saving energy in defense. What were the reasons?

One can learn from observations. Yes. But commentary enhances the observation. Whenever a team needs  two runs in say 3 balls, all the fielders are brought closer to the batsman. We can know that by observation. But commentary adds a reason to it and supplements our understanding . For a youngster it is a terrific learning experience which they can simulate while playing on the ground.

There may be an argument that cricket is long and not very fast (like Hockey), giving plenty of time for a good commentary. It will be tougher in games like boxing, wrestling which last for 15 - 20 minutes. Yes, it may be difficult but the time can be utilized better. e.g. in Hockey, most of the time the commentary consists of who has the possession of the ball and to whom it is being passed. It is as if they are stuck in the radio mode describing the action in detail which is actually not required.

Organisations have  Brand Ambassadors as well as Salesmen. A Shahrukh Khan will make you aware of a new Hyundai car in town but for actual selling, a Sales man is needed to tell you the features and benefits of the car and to overcome your doubts.  In sports, we have the brand ambassadors in form of these medal winning and awe-inspiring athletes but what we lack is a Sales team in the form of commentators who need to do the actual connect, giving a good experience to the audience.

Re-Marketing

If you have been to Palika Bazaar in Delhi, you know that only one “kitne ka hai” about something is enough for them to get behind you like anything. They call you, cajole you, follow you till a distance – their voice does even if they physically don't. Heavy discounts are offered and more often than not they close the deal. After coming out, many times we look down upon the cheap methods by which the sale was done – even if the shopping bags are full.

Well, now even sellers who term the Palika Bazar's methods as 'low market' can also benefit from the same technique. The euphemism that Google has used is 'Re-marketing' or 'Interest Based Advertising'.

The 'advertising innovation' is around 6 months old but came to know about it when Ankit was trying to book air tickets online. Though he did not go through with the transaction, for the next few days, he kept on getting related ads by airlines/travel portals flashed on various websites he visited. It was then we realized that he was being re-marketed.

The concept is simple. Suppose you are on the web to buy let's say an airline ticket for a leisure trip to Singapore. You visit a website which has employed re-marketing and browse around. In other words you have asked a Palika Bazaar dukaanwala(shopkeeper) the price of some thing.

The information gets stored in the cache. The dukanwala has locked on to a potential buyer.

If you leave the website without a purchase, then website uses the cache information to display related advertisements wherever you go on the web. If you leave the dukaan without a buy, the dukaanwala follows you, shouting “Aao to sahi. Kitna doge”.

The ads being popped up offer various discounts on the exact route you had searched for. The same is done by the dukaanwala.

I wonder if Palika Bazaar actually had something to do with Google Re-marketing.

Customer Care Again

Continuing on the customer care note, got an interesting call.
I had got my car serviced from Hyundai a few days ago. So the customer care called to know my feedback. It was a sweet voice of a lady.
This is how it went (Original was in Hindi, translated to English for my global audience!! - Ya there is not even local audience as of now but I like to think Long term!!!)

CC: Good Morning Sir. I am calling from ABC Hyundai. Am I talking to Mr. Shadaab.

Me: This could be me. But may be they bungled up with cell numbers.

Me: No. You have got the wrong number.

CC: Oh. You own a Santro?

Me: Yes.

CC: You got it serviced it on 13th.

Me: Yes. But my name is Sidharth

CC: Oh! Sir, I would like to ask you how was the experience.

Me:Not even a sorry!!!

Me: Ya, it was OK.

CC: Were you satisfied with the washing of the car.

Me: Yes I was.

CC: And Overall experience?

Me: Ya good!

CC: Out of 10, how many marks would you like to give us.

Me: umm... 8

CC: Why have you cut 2 marks???

Me: WTF.. what a question!!!! Well..because you call me and don't know my name. And because somebody changed the channel in the customer lounge when Sachin was batting that day!!!

Me: You had promised that some stains on the seat cover will go off. But they didn't. But that's Ok. You didn't charge me for it.

CC: So why cut the marks?

Me: Because you Overpromised and Underdelivered!!

CC: whaat??

Me: Nothing. you promised something and could not do it

CC: But we didn't charge for it.

Me: Ya Ok.

CC: Sir, 9 and 10 marks are for excellent. and below that Very Good..

Me: what the hell!!!!

Me: OK. 9 marks.. Fine now????????

CC: Thank you sir!!

New Heights of Customer Involvement

I became a fan of the national telecom company of India. Their transparent systems are of the order such that they ought to be included in the Customer Relationship Management(CRM) case studies of management schools.
Customer involvement is one of the popular jargon in marketing and this company takes it from theory to practice. what happened yesterday is proof of that.

Broadband at my home was erratic for 10 days and for past couple of days it had completely conked off. But it was not followed by any bull shit like calling customer care and lodging complaint, then following it up with the same cranky customer care whose sole purpose in life is to increase Blood Pressure of people. May be customer care centers have secret tie-ups with hospitals. Seriously, either IT companies should design better systems for these people or the companies whom they represent should share more information and empower them (words directly from a CRM case study)

Anyways, coming back to our customer focused company, a call was made to the lineman who had installed the land line at the house. The favor balance had been made heavy at the time of installation with the proverbial chai-nashta. So he suggested to get the modem checked. And hence started the journey which opened my eyes to what extents companies go to please their customers. I went directly to the room where all the action was. Huge racks of telecom equipment with cards and wires occupied most of the room. Along side sat the officials who greeted me warmly as the line man himself was there. I was offered a seat along with another customer who was also facing broadband issues. As one of the official remarked "It seems to be our Broadband day today". Gradually they started the diligent process of checking out the fault step by step. Everything was done in a transparent way in my presence so that I could understand how tough it was. And tough it was. Specially identifying the correct wire from amongst a thousand wires. It was literally finding a needle in a haystack. But the well trained officials did it. Important lesson learned - Nothing is impossible though it may take a long time to do it.
After around one hour, the modem was confirmed to be in working order. But by this time, I had mingled with the people there thoroughly - customer involvement!!
I was made part of the team and like a nurse I handed the expert doctors all the tools they needed.
"Pechkass(screwdriver)", one said. "Here Sir". "Gun (some tool)". "Right Away". In fact, after around one and a half hours I was telling them where the tools were after they forgot where they had left them. Some of the more aggrieved customers who came - not surprisingly with broadband problems (it was broadband day after all) thought that I was an employee there and discussed their problems. I heard them patiently and referred them to the concerned person. At one point of time I almost picked up an incoming call on their extension.
I had chai with them and chatted about different office politics specially in PSUs. VRS or Voluntary Retirement Scheme was being introduced in the company and was a hot topic of discussion. I too, gave my honest comments about how it would be in the benefit of the company. How the high average age had affected the PSU to slow down, how dogged with old practices (except the Marketing and Customer Support Department ofcourse) and resistance to change was affecting the flexibility. How losing the old war horses will help improve the efficiency and will open to new, fresh ideas which were desperately needed in the face of changing technology everyday.
But unfortunately, my ideas were not taken very well. May be it was the age of the employees or may because they thought that VRS was a poor scheme. Soon, I excused myself as I had to leave for work. But the good 2 hours spent there really opened my eyes.
Sadly, the broadband is still not working!! I am wondering if my comments on VRS has to do anything with that?

P.S: It has started working although very slowly now. So I am able to publish this post!!

Austerity

The buzz word for more than a week has been "Austerity". Right from Twitter to TV, this has been the topic of discussion.
There is an interesting editorial in the Economic Times, which refers to the austerity of Mahatama Gandhi and Sarojini Naidu quipping that it "costs the nation a lot to keep Gandhiji in poverty".
The ground reality has most probably been the same in our times too. If a Sonia Gandhi travels economy class or Rahul gandhi by train, half the other seats are taken by their security setup, so there is a high chance that ultimately it is costing the nation more for this austerity drive.

But I have come to believe that COngress is turning into smart marketeers. In General elections, their national positioning was clear - Youth!
Now when state elections in some important states are coming up, they have started another round of marketing campaign and they have been successful in creating that space in the mind of the "aam aadmi" by the blitzkreig of the austerity drive.

The role of the media is also important here. They are news hungry and just have to be fed 'correctly' and they will give you a free of cost campaign (Ideally it is free). May be a lesson for all the corporates out there!!