A PR story?

I have no clue what this new milk brand (Sach) in the market is (see image). I've been away from the net/newspaper etc lately. But I did go to Big Bazaar and see this new milk with Sachin's photo and signature on it.

Is it PR or just a coincidence that there has been news of an award to Sachin for his good health and his love for milk before a match?

"tendulkar likes hot milk with turmeric before a match"

"Sachin Tendulkar is healthiest and happiest person in India"

"Milk is the secret of Sachin's fitness"

Maybe it's pure coincidence or have I become too cynical?

Fly from left

You always learn as you go. You always over-do and then simplify and then over-do. It's a vicious cycle and why should powerpointing be any different!

So here are 2 very clear stages in the life of a powerpointer (in this case - me)

Stage I
Wow! Animations!
I am ashamed to admit that I animated everything. I was fascinated by all that one could do on powerpoint.
(At one point of time I even created a whole animated video of sorts of a house and twinkling stars) :D

From fonts to pictures to linking videos and animating everything with the more laborious 'typewriter' or 'fly in from left' animations available, often character by character (don't smirk, you know you've been there too)


Stage II
Powerpoint Detox
Having gone over the top in most presentations, I have come to realize the importance of good clean designs.

Sure, everyone's already told us that we ought to stick to one point per slide... but when a client expects 1000 answers to his 1000 problems what is one to do!

So here are two powerpoints I'd like to share to help get ahead of the learning curve :D

1. Good Powerpoint design
It's a LONG ppt but it makes its point. Though I doubt I'd ever take the trouble of profiling my audience as this ppt suggests, but I guess if you're speaking at an important place you may want to.
Good PowerPoint Design - for business presenters

2. Death by powerpoint
I love this one :D MUST WATCH!

Death by PowerPoint

How do you go back?

How do you prevent all that's happening at Mumbai right now? I for one have no answer. Not yet anyway. For now I just feel numb.

After over a hundred people have died, security officers killed and India held at gunpoint...

How does one go back to work to sell soaps or deodorants that make such little difference to the nation and our collective future?

CC: The Best CYA trick of all time

CYA is an in-built program that runs in every professional's lazy-ass body.

It's short for 'Cover Your Ass' and it's just the thing to employ if you're too scared of getting into trouble. (which by the way makes you a wuss according to me)

CC is great when you want to say something to someone but think it'd be a good idea for others to overhear just so that everyone's on the same page.

But sample this....

ME is sonal
CHA is the man Covering His Ass and CC-ing 5 people who have absolutely nothing to do with the project.

---
MAIL1: 13:02pm
me: Please confirm that this is okay. (nobody CC-ed)

MAIL2: 13:10pm
CHA: Please add these images, they're missing. Let me know if you need anything else. (CCs 5 ppl + CEO for no reason whatsoever. Did he expect the CEO to take my case for not adding those images?!)

MAIL3: 13:11pm
me: Thanks. I'll be taking care of the final prints and submissions tomorrow. It'll all be within deadline. Will send you a copy. (had to CC those 5 +CEO. sigh)

MAIL4: 13:13pm
CHA: Just to check, you'll incorporate the images in the final prints right? The ones I just sent you! (5 ppl CC-ed + CEO)

---

I'm thinking GAWD! of course I will. I just replied to your mail!

By now I was pulling my hair out because there was no way I was going to CC 5 people to just say "yes". So I just called him up and replied.

This is a typical exmaple of CYA where you feel safer about your ass knowing that the big fish know you did your bit and did it on time. You know... lest some scumbag try to pin the fault on you.

Tch. Tch.

Wuss!

CorpTalk can be all Ha Ha Hee Hee

'Bad, server. no donut for you' or something like that is what you get when orkut screws up. Or 'oops...' when gmail acts up.

I love a company with a sense of humour so here are a few examples I came across that I'd wanna share...

Mable's shows you this when the page's not found. Quite cute.



Sample this. Dilmah tea has it's CEO picture and a line that says "one CEO who makes his own tea" :)



Any others I don't know about yet?

Who cares who the advertising is for!

We advertisers hate to face it, but it's true - we don't know shit about the consumer.

Well we may know... but when it comes to describing the people who are most likely to buy our product, we fail miserably.

We describe stereotypes. Not people.

We think 'youth' is an ipod-toting, yo-ing, french bearded teenager in shorts-that-run-to-his-ankles.
Of course we could not be more wrong. Surely the youth of the country don't fall into this category.

Sample this shopping cart that a middle aged, lower middle class family checked out at Shoprite. (accompanied by their 2 young children)

1. 3 Lux soaps
2. 1 pair of brown socks for the kiddo
3. 1 Dove soap
4. 1 pack Kamasutra (x20)
5. 1 Gatorade
6. 2 Amul Kool's
and more...

Now for the life of me I'd have never figured

• They'd prefer a Kamasutra over the more mildly advertised Moods

• That the lady would refuse her daughter a small pack of pencils but splurge on a much more expensive Dove soap presumably for herself

• That they'd be the sorts to buy Gatorade (what with their kids not having any say in the purchase process, from what I witnessed)

So maybe we ought to focus more on making our ads more appealing rather than spending too much time defining that ideal target consumer. Because there sure as hell isn't one.

I found myself a new job

If there's one thing that really makes my blood boil, it's people littering city as if the world's a garbage dump.

On a recent train journey to Pune a lovely young (seemingly educated) couple threw a whole lot of stuff out the window into the 'universal dustbin' that is the world around us.

I thought to myself... (even though it was bloody hard to think with my temper rising by the second)

'Maybe I should just stare at him and he'll get the hint.'

So I gave him the stare. But he just looked confused :D

'Maybe I should wait till he decides to chuck something else out and stop him then.'

So I sat and waited for him to start to chuck something out again. God! Those were the longest minutes of my life as he slowly munched his food on his soon-to-be-out-the-window-paper-plate.

Just as he reached out the window to chuck his plate I screamed

"WAIT-WAIT. DONT-THROW-IT-OUTSIDE!"

and I reached for his plate in an attempt to force it out of his hands and throw it in a dustbin. (totally filmy I tell you!)

So basically he apologized, and took it to the dustbin himself (I think!) and went on to tell another kid in our compartment to do the same and not chuck junk out the window.

He said to me

"Thanks for reminding me"

( which of course caused a big smug grin to surface on my face which I tried my best to hide with a book I was reading)

So I've decided that since I'm probably not going to be doing anything great for India, I might as well just take on the job of a cleaner.

Last evening I picked up two ticket stubs that this lady threw on the compartment floor. She noticed my clean-up-act but didn't say anything. As for me, I was happy that 2 less ticket stubs littered mumbai last night.