Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal

Back in December 2008, when composer A R Rahman announced a new private album called Connections, I was really excited. After all, this was his private album after ages. But, there was a catch. Connections was a Nokia exclusive…meaning, the album was available only on Nokia Xpress Music devices. Yes, it is indeed a novel promotional deal for a composer and naturally did not go well with me back then. As a fan, I found it preposterous that I have to buy a Nokia mobile phone to listen to one of my favorite composer’s new tracks.Its quite a different story that I did not like the album that much either, while many other fans were raving about it - but that’s just me.

But, in this digital piracy age, this is indeed an interesting way for a composer to earn money, if we just not think of the fans in this picture.

Last week, Universal Music India released an album with A R Rahman’s picture plastered all over the CD sleeve. It was called Connections. But wait, this is not the same as the Nokia-released version. There is only one track that is common to both the albums - Jiya se jiya..the one that was promoted with a free-hugs video.

So how do both the albums compare in terms of the track list? Here’s a comparison!

Now, I have no issues whatsoever with Universal Music releasing yet another compilation album. But, why call it Connections? I’m sure Rahman’s fans, who have multiplied dramatically after the double Oscar, would see the CD before buying it and feel disappointed that the original Nokia Connections are not included in this compilation, sans one track. From that point of view, the sales will not be based on the misleading album title. But, what about credibility?

Rahman has built a phenomenally credible name, at least in India, where his fans wait patiently for everything he composes. His face adds tremendous value to any album. Isn’t Universal Music merely cashing-in on the Rahman craze by releasing a Rahman mug-shot carrying album named after another album that was never commercially released, while retaining only one track from the former?

I was having this discussion with a friend of mine when he pointed out that barely 1% of consumers pay for their music, in India. If the situation in CD retail is so darn bad in India, is releasing a jaded, misleading compilation the answer? That too, at the cost of one of the most credible composers in the country?

Personally, I do not think so. What about Nokia’s Ovi? Can’t it support paid downloads of the original tracks from Connections? Why can’t a Universal Music work with Rahman’s numerous fans (at least online) to release online only versions of the tracks for a fee? I do understand that even a pioneer like Motorola’s SoundBuzz recently went belly up. But, that was a broad music retail model online. What I suggest is a fan-powered model where you tie-up with at least a few groups online and release the album to them. If Dell can use twitter to target sales of refurbished PCs right down to the level of specific area-based promotions, why can’t Universal Music? Are they waiting for a working model from someone else? Or, are they complaining about the lack of online payment infrastructure in India? What…even after IRCTC’s phenomenal success?

The suggestion is to include the parties involved - the composer, his fans and the record label. The composer brings in the goods (the creativity). The fans bring in the need/ want. The record label connects both - only, online. Get creative here - a minimal extra discount for fans of a particular forum? Or a twitter follower only code for fans generated after a week of following Universal or Rahman’s twitter feed? These ‘extras’ would not only generate newer followers, but some buzz about Universal doing something different. I do hear you saying that some fans will buy the tracks and upload it on the assorted torrent sites for free downloads - yes, it is definitely going to happen. But, isn’t that happening even now, with legitimate CD releases?

The one valid reason I’d attribute to downloading is ease of availability - you don’t even need to leave your computer to buy music. So, why not make a legal, paid option available to the same fan so that he/ she at least has a legitimate option to download music with ease?

I was waiting for Kiruba to blog the second part of what we now Ludlum’esquely call, ‘The Kiruba Incident‘. Why? Because I had something similar to share and I was curious to see how all the negativity of Kiruba’s part one turns out in part two.

My story is a lot less painful and no airports, thankfully…as if we don’t get enough of those airport scenes in most movie climaxes in India.

There’s this small, interesting firm called Hammock Holidays in Bangalore. I came to know about them from a former colleague of mine and was fascinated by how they select and empanel a resort/ hotel in their fold. They go to those exotic places and experience it themselves and then pass those on to us. In fact, Hammock does not charge anything from customers like me - they get the cut from the partner hotels/ resorts. And, their rates are much more competitive than other sources. Heck, they arrange for the complete travel plan, right up to the cab at your door step to pick you up!

I’ve used Hammock’s services for my trips in the last 5+ years - all in South India…Ooty, Kodaikanal, Yercaud…! My wife and I would naturally think of calling Hammock as soon as we think of a vacation!

Now, there was a small issue. Hammock to us was one person - let me avoid taking specific names here. We have always dealt with a person at Hammock and that person’s response and commitment was perhaps what got us hooked to their service. This person was very sharp, understood our needs fast and suggested adequate alternatives that always helped us decide better.

When we wanted to head towards Munnar recently, we naturally turned our Hammock contact, on email…only to find that the person is on a long leave - according to a response from a corporate Hammock mail ID. We were assigned another person for the planning. We found it difficult to plan this trip with the new person since the responses were to the point, or sometimes, even without the point. The multiple options that we are so used to, were missing. After a few failed attempts, I gave up on Munnar, booked a fantastic resort on my own in Chikmagalur, thanks to another friend’s snaps of the homestay on Facebook.

But, I was quite upset. That Hammock did not have that one person to help us, though, as they explained later, there was a perfectly legitimate reason why that person was on long leave - since I’m not taking names, let me leave it at that.

So, like any self-respecting digital citizen, I wrote to Hammock. This!

Hi,

I’m not sure who I should be addressing this to. Neither am I aware of why <name 1> has gone on a long leave, according to one of the earlier mails I got from this ID.

<name 1> was for me, the face of Hammock, ever since I heard about your organization from <the former colleague>, 3 years ago. From that point, every single holiday I’ve planned was through <name 1>. <name 1> was extremely helpful in all my family holidays to places like Ooty, Kodaikanal, Yercaud…we are planning a Manali trip later this year too.

I had written to <name> recently for planning a trip to Munnar. That was when I was asked to interact with <name 2>. Without getting into how unhelpful <name 2> was, I can only say that you’ve lost a loyal customer. I had in fact recommended Hammock to many of my friends in office and most of them commented - after using Hammock’s services - on how innovative and helpful it was. They all spoke to <name 1>! Trust me, I’ll not be recommending Hammock again - its my reputation at stake too.

The one small part that I’m not able to understand is this - I work in a PR firm and we work extra hard to keep clients happy. In a deep recession, I’m not entirely sure how Hammock can afford to be so lackadaisical.

Frankly, I did not expect any response from Hammock. But, they mailed me back quite fast and said that Hammock’s executive director will get in touch with me. And, he did. I explained my point of view and he apologized for the inconvenience. Happy customer - will use Hammock again for that Manali trip, hopefully towards the end of this year.

Let us not compare ClearTrip and Hammock, since both are very different entities. But, both got back to their respective, annoyed customers and that says a lot of customer service in this age of vocal customers - customers having a voice even if that voice is loud, like Kiruba’s…or relatively feeble, like mine.

But, another thought! My experience and impression about Hammock was built by a single employee, over 5+ years. This was not via social media, but through conventional communication including phone calls and email. I’ve never met that person too! But think about it - when an organization’s community manager leaves or the person who has been assigned to manage the twitter profile (for instance) of a company leaves…he takes along with him, his style of tweets, his way of responding and his style of engagement.

Assuming a new person is put in place, I’m sure it’d take quite some time before he can align his style with the expectations of regular customers/ people having regular conversations with the brand. How does one manage that? In my case above, it turned into a make or break situation!

The way I see it, organizations having social media presence and engaging actively with customers online need to ensure that a clear, top level guideline exists as a ready reckoner. This will be akin to a brand manual, only, this will be a social media engagement manual explaining the type of content and tone used as a standard. Ideally, this should be created by the person responsible for social media engagement, after he/ she has put in a couple of months’ effort of active engagement. This articulation of interaction style and tone could be extremely useful for brands having social media presence using their brand name and not on an individual employee’s name.

For PR agencies like ours who manage social media outreach on behalf of our clients, this is a sensible and critical value addition. Articulating this not only means anyone from our side could manage the client’s social media interactions seamlessly, but it’d also help us transition the task back to the client when they are ready to handle this internally.

Photo courtesy: kernbeisser via Flickr.

Eros owns the rights on everything to do with Imtiaz Ali’s 3rd film, Love Aaj Kal. And they make it mighty apparent.

Impressed by the promo I saw on YouTube this morning, I tweeted the link. The movie, at least based on the promo, seems like a really wonderful adaptation of Korean director Hou Hsiao-hsien’s 2005 film, ‘Zui hao de shi guang‘ (Three Times). Imtiaz’s style is all over the promo, just like Jab We Met and I’m really looking forward to hearing its music and watching the film.

But, Eros’ attitude gets on my nerves! By evening, that YouTube link has been yanked off with the message, ‘This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Eros Worldwide LLc.’!

So, what happened? Don’t folks at Eros want us fans to share the movie promo? Should we share only those links that have a promotional partnership with Eros - like Bollywood Hungama (No, I’m not going to add a link to the promo on Bollywood Hungama - Eros does not deserve that!)? Too bad Eros, there are many more links to watch Love Aaj Kal’s promo, right inside YouTube - let us see how much time you waste trying to get all of them off YouTube!

So, why did they do this? Is it,

1. To ensure that all promotional partners get their share of page views?
2. To have only official Eros-driven materials floating on the web?
3. To ensure that they can track traction of all promos?

Whatever the reason, its a mega social media fail!

Listen Eros, this is not content that can generate a lot of revenue for you. It can, if you sell it to your online partners - but its shelf life is a few hours. People are bound to rip the video and post it in places like YouTube - you just cannot stop it. You should not too - its not where people see it. Its how many people see it, wherever its available!

Online partnership is perfectly fine, but realize that you cannot control such distribution. You can only watch it, as it happens!

Most importantly, these are being spread by people who love your content. Understand that! For heaven’s sake, do not piss them off like this.

And yes, stop being such a silly bully - grow up!

Need another reason? Eros’ official Facebook Group for Love Aaj Kal has 854 members and 58 wall posts as I type this. A fan-created group - here - has 1,002 members 1,181 wall posts! Let’s see if Eros continues to act like a silly bully and asks the fan group to dismantle!

Photo courtesy…as obviously stamped right across the photo, Bollywood Hungama!

I LOVE this! Truly!

Dustin Curtis, a user interface designer, had an opinion about the website of American Airlines. He thought, to put it mildly, that it sucked. Fair enough - its a personal opinion. But, like most new-age, web x.0 savvy consumers, he wrote an open letter to them in his blog. The best part is, he did not just whine - he also made a mock-up of what he thinks could be a good redesign for the front page.

I love his approach. Or, so I thought - because, here comes the even-better part!

Someone in the official design team at American Airlines saw this blog post and responded - wonderfully well, I’d say. In essence, he (she?) says that anyone could make a mock-up of a newly redesigned front page based on his/ her personal taste (more on ‘taste’ - later in this post!), but within an organization like American Airlines, there are multiple stakeholders, with multiples X multiples of expectations and demands!

This is an extraordinarily valid and ignored point even in social media. Unless there’s an internal champion who could impress upon the senior management, the needs and possibilities of social media (here, website redesign, as a better means of customer experience), using informed, logical and the ‘in-the-best-interest-of-the-company’ tone, so that it is sold better, internally - things will continue to be in a limbo.

Dustin refers to personal taste, after the message from American Airlines, as one of the major reasons for inertia in this area, but I disagree. Anybody who has worked in a larg’ish organization would know how difficult it is to move things around, regardless of how good the leader is or how good his tastes are.

It requires champions who are hands-on and articulate, to sell such changes within organizations. When it comes to adoption of social media as a communication mode, it becomes all the more important that an internal champion spearheads such changes - for corporate communicators, marketing communicators or even marketing folks within an organization, this is a great opportunity to usher change and get on the good books of senior management!

Kudos to that American Airlines employee for listening to the buzz online. And responding so well. He deserves a promotion!

PS: Got to know about the American Airlines thingy from David Churbuck’s blog post!

My earlier visit to Chikmagalur was more of a base for places around it - Belur, Halebid and Horanadu. So, it’s no wonder I didn’t have much of an impression about it. This time, however, the place of stay made all the difference. Thippanahalli Home Stay is situated right inside a dense coffee estate and is the perfect place to relax, unwind and clear all those mind-knots about existential worries. The rooms and cottages are perfect - large enough, clean loo, Tata-Sky enabled TV (damn!) and minimal mobile signal, that too at select places in the estate.

There is dense greenery all over the place and every small thing done at the estate is done very tastefully. There are so many spots in the estate to just sit and read or listen to music and generally (and literally) watch time passing by!

The family that manages the home stay is extremely cultured and even makes it a point to accompany you during the eating sessions. That brings us to the food - the traditional malnad cuisine is fantastic…akki rotis, neeru dosai etc. Perfect for the stomach and great for the tongue too. There’s unlimited coffee too…this being coffee country!

If merely sitting and day-dreaming (we rarely do it these days, btw) gets on your nerves (trust me, it will not - you’ll only want more of it!) there are some incredible places of visit nearby. But, before that, the estate itself has a fantastic trek route, right inside the thick coffee plantations. There are helpful boards all across the 2+ kms walk route in the estate and this is a perfectly rejuvenating walk - though this can be tiring, particularly when you start walking back to your room.

In terms of places outside, first is the highest peak in Karnataka - Mullayanagiri Peak. It’s about 20 odd kms from the estate and on the day we visited the peak, it was unusually foggy and extraordinarily windy. We managed to reach the peak with great difficulty but thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The temple on top had some kind of inauguration on 24th May, just a day before we visited it! The path to the peak is accessible by car till a point, where you just park the car and start walking the uneven, but thankfully-laid steps. If you’re lucky, you’d get a foggy day like I did - else, it usually is sunny, according to locals. This is a tiresome drive (about 25 mins, one way, from the estate) + trek (about 15-20 minutes, on way, from the base) combo - so be prepared.

I really would not recommend either Datta Peeta or Manikyadhara as other worthy spots - both are highly commercialized even by the relatively uncommercialized Chikmagalur standards. The next strong recommendation is reserved for the unnamed waterfalls inside a private estate, referred in hushed tones, only as ‘Muneer Estate’. The estate’s locked gate is about 12 kms away from Thippanahalli estate - should not take more than 15-20 minutes to reach. You need someone local to guide you to the actual spot. From the gate, it’s a trek down to the waterfalls - a 25 odd minute trek, which become totally laborious once you start your way back. The waterfalls, however, is incredible. Wild, almost-unknown and well-hidden, this is the kind of falls you see in movies. It’s accessible at the base and is perfect for a cool shower - make sure you carry spare clothes, towels etc. Prepare yourself for a tiring walk back to the gate, where you parked your vehicle!

The last spot is the Hirekolale Lake. While there is supposedly a way to reach this natural and lesser-known lake from the main road, the best path is to drive right through the estate - the same way as the estate walk route! Driving through the dense estate is solid fun, though you need to ensure that you check your tire pressure since the roads all over the route - even in Chikmagalur - are messy. They’re not terribly bad, but are not smooth either.

If you’ve exhausted the usual suspects – Ooty, Kodaikanal, Yercaud etc. – Chikmagalur is a fabulous alternative. But, unlike other places, where you stay in Chikmagalur does make a huge difference. From that point of view and the fact that all the places mentioned above are close-by, Thippanahalli Home Stay is a dream-come-true!

The drive from Bangalore was super-smooth. We started early at around 6:30 am and took the Nelamangala bye-pass road. The route is simple…Kunigal – Hassan – Belur – Chikmagalur – Kaimara – Thippanahalli Estate! From my home, it was exactly 275 kms and we reached by about 12:30, right in time for lunch! Since we’ve already seen Belur and Halebid, we did not stop in those places. Thippanahalli Estate is about 15 kms from Chikmagalur town and everyone seems to know about it since the family that owns it has done a lot to this small city. On the way back from Chikmagalur, we took the Magadi Road stretch due to the construction work on Nelamangala road and via the NICE road, reached Bannerghatta road!

Thanks to Kishore from Brown Potion & Coconut Chutney for letting me know about Thippanahalli Estate!

Here are some snaps from the trip!

Big Bazaar. Asin. Can these 2 come together? Can Asin be Big Bazaar’s brand ambassador?

She’s pretty and successful. And if Big Bazaar, belonging to the future group, can afford her fee, why not?

Errr…could we rewind a bit? And recall this widely-reported piece of news? Shoes worth Rs. 2 lakhs…you’ve gotto be kidding, right?

Big Bazaar is the quintessential all-things-cheap store. They no doubt take advantage of their scale of procurement, but the goods are - for lack of a better word - cheap. So how does Asin, an actress who doesn’t bat an eyelid spending Rs. 2 lakhs on a pair of shoes, fit the Big Bazaar image?

I say, mega marketing fail! Or, was Big Bazaar relying on the fact that ‘news’, these days, has just a 48 hour life span?

Picture courtesy: fergusonphotography via Flickr

WATBlog did a story on May 12 - on Jet Airways’ and Skoda’s responses to criticism online. Jet handled it slightly better, but Skoda’s was just horrendous jargon.

Here’s another! Chinamayi Sripada is one of my favorite singers in recent times. She’s the one who sung ‘Oru dheivam thandha poove’ from Maniratnam’s Kannathil Mutthamittaal and the same singer who sang, ‘Tere bina’ so amazingly, in Maniratnam’s Guru. She’s also an entrepreneur (she runs a translation service called Blue Elephant), a TV host in Vijay TV and is also a successful RJ in Chennai (with Aahaa FM). I have heard her show when AahaaFM had an online stream and I simply love her show.

She has a blog too - WhatToNameIt. Her post today is about Samsung. In a Seth Godin’esque minimalistic style, she posted this,

“If you are thinking of buying a Samsung product, especially a refrigerator or an air conditioner - Please do not.

The after sales service is beyond abysmal. Wish I can be more eloquent there, but words fail me.

Realize the importance of service backup only now”

This is as powerful as it gets. She is a micro-influencer, a slightly bigger micro-influencer than other bloggers due to her exposure in other media. And she has a bone to pick with Samsung. I’m glad she opened this up through her blog.

If I was Samsung, I’d be shitting in my pants now - but, not for crores of revenue lost. That’s not going to happen - this blog post will not start a campaign against Samsung at all.

But, even if 5 people decide to even not consider Samsung in thier shortlist for an air conditioner (summer lasts for 12 months in Chennai, remember?), this post would have had its effect, in my opinion. And interestingly, this is not about product quality - much like the Skoda and Jet Airways issues. Its about customer support - something that is completely within the brand’s reach. And off they goof where it hurts them the most!

An innocuous post such as this is the most potent weapon against erring brands. It will affect credibility and loyalty over the long run and they won’t even know what hit them, when it does. It will be very interesting to see how Samsung responds to this!

The new TV spot for Lifebuoy shows 2 buildings - Building A and Building B. The voiceover claims that ‘they’ made a small change in Building A. Result? Kids in Building A take go more regularly to school, play games better, enjoy life, solve more of world problems…you get the drift?

And the change? I was waiting for a product that goes ‘inside’ the kids - a Horlicks, Complan, Boost type. The voiceover now proudly announces - it was Lifebuoy soap! They even add a fine-print, small-font research to back their ridiculous claim!

Jeez - do they think we’re total morons? So, politicians are not the only group that think we’re complete idiots - marketers are a close second. This advt. is an insult to even minimal intelligence and doesn’t even try to wrap its absurdity in marginally decent thought or ideas.

Epic Fail! That’s what it is!

The Hindu has an interview with the author of ‘The Rozabal Line’ today - Mumbai-based businessman and first time novelist, Ashwin Sanghi. What caught my attention was that he had submitted his to 100 odd publishers and it seems 99 rejected it.

So, did he lose hope? Nope! He turned to micropublishing - the democratisation of book publishing. Ashwin published it on his own via self-publishing stalwart, Lulu.com (disclosure - once my client). Interestingly Ashwin did not publish it under his own name - true to his book’s content, he published it under his name’s anagram - Shawn Haigins!

This move, according to Ashwin, was instrumental in getting the attention of WestLand Books which has now published an Indian version of the book. This is a fascinating case - we’ve all heard of manuscripts being rejected, but this guy actually thought on his feet and made his book happen.

As someone interested in bizarre theories like what the Rozabal line deals with (Jesus’ missing years, spent in India!), I’m surely gonna read this book.

Indian micro/self-publisher Cinnamonteal (@cinnamonteal) listening to this? They should be using this as a case study to get others with a foot in multiple mega publishers’ door to try self-publishing first!

Also see…Ashwin Sanghi/ Shawn Haigins’ blog!

All you wannabe novelists - take note! Never give up!

The ‘Most Influential Blogs’ study by Text 100 (where I work - disclosure!) and Context Analytics (Text 100’s research subsidiary) is interesting in quite a few ways. No, the results seem obvious enough - the likes of Techcrunch, Engadget and VenturBeat top the list. What piqued my interest is VentureBeat founder, Matt Marshall’s post about this study in We Love Crowds.

Matt says, “Some individual bloggers are enormously influential because they focus on a niche topic and they know more than anyone else about it. Blogs like VentureBeat have grown to a team of several people, and we cover more areas. That means we’re more likely to get cited by outside sources, including the mainstream media. There are the blogs, such as GigaOm and Ars Technica, which have either raised millions in venture capital, or been bought by a large media company — and so have more resources, more writers and so churn out still more copy — thus making it more likely they’ll be cited.

Then there are the mega blogs, such as Huffington Post, which have raised $30M more more, which begins to make a publication look less and less like a “blog.” (Huffington Post ranked No. 1 in the politics section of the Text100 study). And finally, there are sites like Seeking Alpha, ranked No. 2 in business, which basically are aggregating work by outside bloggers (they appraoched us once to syndicate our content), so its not really a blog per se.”

Let me not get into the barebones definition of what is a blog. Working for a PR firm that handles social media engagement strategy and execution for clients, when I hear a client ask us, ‘Could you make a list of the top blog/ bloggers that we should be engaging with?’, how should I categorize a blog?

Let me take the Indian example.

If a mobile phone brand wants this list, should I include individual bloggers who opine at a personal level?

Should it include specific individuals from online tech. news sites like WATBlog or ContentSutra (very roughly the Indian equivalents of Techcrunch and hmm…Silicon Alley Insider, respectively? - sorry…if that comparison offends the respective Indian sites)

Should the fact that an individual blogger’s opinions are very personal in nature matter? Compared to ‘a’ blogger, wouldn’t a slightly larger outfit like WATBlog be anyway interested in covering tech. news - as in, that’s their ‘job’…right?

So, what is the best engagement approach for a client?

My take?

Organized blogging outfits with multiple contributors - like ContentSutra, AlooTechie and WATBlog - are perhaps one step closer to be considered mainstream media - just that they started as blogs and have evolved into mainstream online media. Their primary interest is to build credibility by writing on specific topics and areas that they wish to be known for (Web, Advertising and Technology for WATBlog, for instance). But could they be called ‘blogs’?

In my opinion, no. PR agencies like us, when trying to influence social media for the benefit of our clients (by rightful, non-invasive and honest means), should ideally consider individual bloggers with decent enough reach, to impress upon them, a client’s products/ services. During this process, PR firms need to check the relevance of the bloggers - this is the most critical part - with the products/ services on offer.

My contention is that an organized blogging (news) firm like WATBlog would naturally be interested from the perspective of adding relevant content to the benefit of their readers. So, they cannot be treated as peer-to-peer media/ blogs within the scope of social media engagement. I’d tend to put them on par with mainstream media, based on their motivation to cover news…and that is saying a lot about how far they’ve evolved.

Back to the client…! If the client is in the FMCG/ personal technology space (mobile phones/ PCs), sites like ContentSutra and WATBlog would find it necessary enough to cover such news - of course, with thier own unique opinion added to the news (which differentiate them from mainstream media that merely ‘reports’ news and only sometimes adds opinions). But, where a mobile phone company gains the most is online word-of-mouth from individual bloggers, based on a personal opinion. A normal employee in a tech. company (just an example) or an advertising agency, with a blog about myriad topics, posts his personal take on being invited to a blogger meet by a mobile phone brand - now that’s what I’d sell to my client. In this case, the blog post is not driven by business/ commercial need (the case with sites like VentureBeat or Techcrunch), but by a personal, individual experience! That’s the definition and success metric of a smart social (peer?) media enagagement.

Of course, it goes without saying that PR firms need to expand the universe - when a client says, ‘I want blogger engagement’, we should ideally be correcting them with (for the lack of a better phrase) ‘You need an engagement strategy to reach out to online content creators’ - and explain the many types of online content creators - bloggers, message board moderators/ regular members, tweeters, social networking stalwarts with many (influential) friends, regular blog commenters and so on. Every little mention online helps a brand.

Pic courtesy: Michael Paul Young via Flickr.