Show me your friends and I'll tell who you are

Yes, it is the day of Judgement call. You are defined by the company you keep. In other words, the company you work for. But do not panic if your company is not a Fortune 500 or one of the largest _______ in the world. This is the era of niche business. Specialization is in the air.

A couple of years ago I was conducting a Focus group study for a leading technology organization. The target group consisted of experienced professionals from a cutting-edge technology background. When I asked them to "Define your dream company" majority of the participants gave out the names of companies that were growing, new to the market, with employees of 25-50 numbers, and were innovative product and service providers. Incidentally, all these companies were paying compensation packages above industry standards. Now, don't go 'Aha! Here's the catch'. The compensation is a good carrot, no doubt. The bottomline though, is the fact that you could dodge red tapes of a large multinational corporation and make autonomous decisions. This is very important in a growing economy where risk takers are increasing in numbers and the entrepreneural spirit is spreading like wild-fire. Naturally, the additional package helps them sustain their existence as well as enables them to set up boutique consulting services across the city. Not all of them are successful but no one can object them trying.

An indication of your economy's health is when percentage of risk aversion lowers. For years people in developing and under developed economies have been trying to find security in large stable organizations but no one can deny the fate of such an organization after the downfall of a major financial institution in recent times. The fact that this happened in a developed country is a litmus of things to come. Companies in countries like India and China are feeding off many small businesses and self employments. The rapid growth of skills in Information technology in these countries have uplifted the life styles of the large middle class and opportunistic lower class. Still, the gap between the rich and poor leaves your mouth agape. This is because the scavengers in the social strata have not been able to latch on to the lower end jobs in smaller organizations like how it used to traditionally be. The stratification in the middle class itself is so intense that you can see predatory tendencies when they compete for all employment opportunities that are available to them. Lower classes are completely thwarted. If you noticed I have used words that are associated with primitive instincts of us civilized animals. That's because the current Job market is a jungle out there. The sanctity of a patriarch / matriarch providing for the family is long gone. Man, woman and child are competing with each other to make their mark in the future of turbulent economy.

In the end, all we are interested in is to see a better world for ourselves and our children to live in. But when we reach there I know there will be debris all around us. The one, we realise that was created before we made our mark. And that is why I am not sure of the importance in keeping the right company. The bigger question that is looming over me: 'Is the institution greater than the individual?'. I guess not.

Frog in the well

Internet is a force to reckon.
Internet is an emerging media.
Online traffic numbers are staggering.
New age media. Pay per click. iTV. Portals.

This is the pattern I see in articles about internet as a medium. In the last 3 years the amount of interest and focus that marketers have gained about online media is making me go Uh oh! Not another fad! The truth is, I am somewhat prejudiced, bitter and jealous about Internet.
Prejudiced because I don't fancy anything too hyped.
Bitter because of its influence over young minds in every thing.
Jealous because of the kind of attention it gets.
O.k. For argument sake, you may ask me why I blog. To be heard, I say. You say, 'There you go!'. Well, I must confess that I started blogging just to understand a client of mine, one of the largest internet companies at one time. That's a story by itself. Anyway...

The frog in the well in this story is the person who suddenly wakes up to the fact that Internet is gaining momentum as a strong media and feels earth crumbling under the feet. For this person, all other media blurs into the background. The outline is only Online media and nothing else. So there goes 100% productivity in making a martyr of the Big I's. Interactive. Internet. IPods. Iphones. Ibook. IMac. So on. Note that other latest geek-dgets are added too. The trends extend to Pod casts, Blue tooth marketing and others.

Now, I have observed that this frog has a cousin. The traditional marketer. The one who never budges to try anything new. Only those tested and tried methods are the weapons of mass marketing. Example: Print medium, billboards, In person trade shows etc.

One thing I have never been able to understand is that, why the two cousins don't get along and put their heads together. Perhaps, the best explainations may be given by Behavioural scientists. The kind that deals with humans. There! I have come to the point. The inconsistencies in marketing approach results from human judgements and thoughts. No matter how advanced you are technologically, you are still thinking based on your pre-conditioning and the opinions you form based on your personal interest. So how can you possibly think that all other humans (the one you presume are your target group) will succumb to your latest techniques and be in awe with your isolated advancement/dementia?

All I am saying is...be the frog. But the kind that goes beyond leaps and bounds. Connect with your stakeholders, work hard to be democratic but assertive, make attempts to know your customer well and only then you may flood them with your superior ideas and techniques in making their experience as a customer better.

eMarketing Vs Employee Productivity

Warning: Please note that this article is based only on
a. Companies focused on eMarketing and b. Internet users at work place

Have you ever wondered why your focus is slowly shifting towards terms like impressions, traffic, CPC, CPM, optimization etc? And have you wondered what relation does this have on your employee productivity?

Here is a theory in eMarketing. You are the reason why people spend more time online than the other way around. With free access to internet more employees spend time on their desk for a. To appear to be working b. To surf the internet. Ok, you already knew this.

But imagine this. With 1000s of establishments providing Desktops with internet connections to their employees, it is likely that you are targeting your products and services to millions of office workers. Again, you already knew this.

While you are happy with so many netizens around the world, are you thrilled with the fact that other businesses are happy too? To target your employees!! Would you rather have your employees shop online than complete a project proposal? (Note: Employees can be both, active or passive shoppers).

The easiest way to curb this user behaviour is to cut off access to general websites and social networking sites at the office. However, this would also mean employees meddling with the system admins to obtain easy access. This is especially true in small to medium sized companies. Aren't they spending more time cracking ways to browse than browsing itself?

I would think that browsing the internet is not essentially bad. It is definetely an asset to have access to so much of information but not knowing when to stop is! So how do we drive a message home?

Like a few companies I know, the best way is to use the timer system. An employee can browse anytime of the day on any website but those sites unauthorized by the Network administrator will go off if the usage exceeds a certain time-limit...say 1 hour per day.
Also asking employees to maintain a log of all sites visited and profiling themselves with their areas of interests. This will help you track user profiles and behaviour using your own employees as consumers. Be it any product! Just make sure you assure your employees that it's ok to do this and it has no reflection on their performance reports. This may not be the most conventional idea nor would every company practice this. But if you are Computer/Consumer product company trying this will surely not hurt your pocket, unless you have a stringent Internet policy at your office! ;-)

Recruitment communications with a difference

First Choice Haircutters

These guys are so neat. They ran a TV commercial with the tag line 'A Chair and hair is waiting for you'. The ad was simple showing colorful hair being cut over a chair. I couldn't quite believe a hair salon could actually do recruitment ads on TV! Wake up Fortune 500s!

Creative Niche Inc

This is a staffing firm specialising in placing ad people like me. They have open house sessions and recruiting events at their office. They provide guidance to new candidates in job search. They also have this wonderful external referral program which pays $100 to anyone who refers their name to candidates.

Government funded programs in Canada

Any new comer to Canada thirsting for employment could benefit from a vast array of programs supported by the government. This includes Self Marketing for Employment programs, work place simulation program, assessments and subsidies for employers to hire new immigrants. Now, all these don't necessarily guarantee you a job that pays your bills but for someone eager to make their mark these are great initiatives to benefit from!

Smart

I was going through this site www.smart.com recently and noticed that not only Daimler Chrysler's new babe is a smarty but its website is too! Easy to zip through from one section to another with no fancy flash movies that would slow your browser speed in your existing bandwidth. Gives clear graphic images of the product and its features.
Nicely uses people's pictures to show that this auto was not made in a factory just to invade the spaces of the crowded cities but thoughtfully designed and created for the consumption of people who need a 4 wheeler out of necessity and for those with an aesthetic sense. Ofcourse nothing is free of flaws. Our nice car is made of 'high quality plastic' but supposedly is eco-friendly!
Well, I leave those comments to experts on automotives. I am just a lowly advertising executive who sifts through site after site to whet my appetite for destruction....oopsie..I meant information! Take care. Hallelujah!

Cadbury's Dairy Milk

I quite like what Cadbury's did at Dundas in downtown Toronto recently. They have put up a huge billboard of Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate with the wrapper opened and a little fella sitting on top, munching away the delicious snack. Made my mouth water. It's an innovative solution where the gnome's action is monitored probably by an electronic or a mechanical device in the background. (Here is a pic. I also have a video which I'd love to upload sometime). It may not match upto what Discovery Channel did with the 3D shark on a building or Nike's football bursting through the facade of a building but I,the lil kid I am could not help smiling at the Cadbury's one ;-)

First case

Oracle
PDF on website. Link http://www.oracle.com/openworld/2008/collateral/exhibitor-kit-section1.pdf
Inconsistencies in font size. expanded fonts instead of increased font size
Suggestion: Always insist on following brand guidelines. There's no excuse for this. If your company does not have brand guidelines kit, create now!

Oracle
www.oracle.com
No link for feedback on site
Suggestion: If you think this is too trivial for your business, think again!

Eye for detail

This forum is open for people who can identify inconsistencies, mistakes,poor presentations in websites and advertisements of any company in any part of the world. To leave your comments please follow this format:

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