Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Mirroring while in Mumbai

The Mumbai summer is teetering to an end. Felt refreshing to see the first cloudy day of the season and the first light drizzle. I love dark, gloomy, cloudy, rainy days... & monsoon at MICA last year was a filling-up-the-senses experience.

Speaking of MICA... it's almost been a year there & it's been one of the most eventful years of my life. So much has happened in what seems like just a few months.

Here's a look-back at Year 1, as I get ready for Year 2.

Acads: Starting with Acads, coz that is the underlying motive for going through the CAT rigamarole & getting there.

It's been an average. For the second time, (first was graduation), grades didn't matter at all. Struggled through some courses (Micro & Macro Economics, ManAcc, BBF 1)
Enjoyed a few (Intro to Mass Media, Marketing, Media planning, Strategic Marketing, Brand Management, QT, & whatever it was that Prof Mathew taught)
Slept through some (Research Methodology, Social & Developmental Communication)
Some were ruined by profs (Direct Marketing, Event Management, Services Marketing, Advertising)
And some were utterly laughable (Production Techniques in Communication, Strategic Management)

About 20% of what I learnt helped me during summer internship. But the best part of being in B-school is the network - the friends that you make, which really enhances the summer experience. As I was discussing with a pal from another B-School yesterday... it's only when you talk to other summer interns that you realise the sum total of your own learning. Benchmarking is for life. :-)

Non-Acads: This is the high-point of the whole year. Did things that I most love doing - quizzing, travel and even more quizzing.

Enjoyed layouts & page designs for both issues of Black Coffee. Though content-wise, the mag could do with a little help - both editions looked good ;-) - especially "Get Shot"

Touring B-School fests... Did ISB's Poseidon & IIM-L's Manfest. Also Chaos. Played online at MDI's e-blast, IIM-B's Vista, XLRI's Ensemble & NMIMS' Euphoria ... will be on MICANVAS core committee this year. Definitely want to do ISB & IIM-B this year. Tata Crucible in Ahmedbad was a good experience too.

A lot of campus activities. Sankalp - the theatre festival - was 3 days of total excitement, gossip, hard work & holiday. Alumni meets came and went with no real memories except wild parties. Freshers', farewell, watching, appreciating or sniggering at Spicmacay programs, MICAday celebrations - god, the year's been quick. Living arrangements during MICANVAS - now there were some revelations :-)

Getting out of Ahmedabad... Didn't go to Diu - absolutly MUST this year. But came to Bombay thrice, Delhi twice... and of course Hyd & Lucknow.

Getting out of campus: Invariably using the excuse of having to buying something vital - and ending up watching movies at FR & Wide Angle. Saw practically everything from Mujhse Shaadi Karogi to Dhoom to Black. Eating out at McD's, Upper Crust, Pizza Hut, US Pizza, 4/11, Sankalp, Four Food, TGB, Havmor, Coconut Grove, CCD... and good old Plati & the pao bhaji place in Bopal. Discovering the DVD store at Judge's Bungalow was a bonus... ended up watching all the classics that I'd always wanted to.

Hostel life: First time... and what a first time it has been. Yes, probably a list of things that every b-schooler goes through... nonetheless - very memorable.

A scary first week, a setting-in second week, a making-friends third week and then 40 weeks of madness, late nights, birthday celebrations, feverish attempts to study, meeting deadlines, gossip, watching Friends, Sex and the City, Southpark, Seinfeld, late night walks, the monsoons, the acid bugs, the mid-morning & midnight visits to cantenn, the freezing wintry nights & warm wintry nights.

A lovely year. Looking forward to another.

Campaigns that I found interesting this season

Print: Provogue for its visuals - just keeps getting better and better.

TV: FCB's Tata Indica commercial. Read on agencyfaqs! that it's inspired from Japanese automobile ads of the 90s. Anyway - nice idea and very neat production. And Titan Fastrack Eyegear - "eyecandy" more appropriate.

Outdoor: Definitely DNA.

Contest: Airtel Showdown - An obvious choice considering my temporary Bombay numer got shortlisted. Get to spend a day on Shahrukh's team. Wonder what kinda games we'll play :-) ;-)
Anyway, the campaign itself was pretty sad. Celebs get away with pathetic ads.

Product Launch: Hmm... Kingfisher Airlines

Others: Levi's @ Cafe Coffee Day outlets, Tide's attempt to go to small towns & Greenply's version of national integration.

Monday, May 30, 2005

Favourite Mumbai-ism

Tssst Tsst... The sound made when you're trying to attract someone's attention. Should not be mistaken for intention to proposition someone. Other similar sounds go smuuuch-smuuch, sss-sss, taxi! , auto! , rickshaw! ...

Who Woos Who?

Is it a buyer's market or a seller's? For media, it does look like buyers' have an edge. Officially there are 123 TV channels & 796 publications in India (TAM data); the unregistered could take the count up to twice that number. Almost 70,000 programmes to advertise on. Print monopolies have taken a major beating. All this bodes well for advertisers. Media vehicles are trying hard to grab their attention. And to woo media planners.

Saw two instances yesterday. Discovery Channel, which is all set to launch a new show, Alien, sent over their folks to the office to create some buzz. And Mumbai Mirror sent over a gorgeous cake, with icing that was a front page replica.

Ultimately it's numbers that tell the truth. But the hierarchy of control is there for everyone to see. The client rules over the agency, which in turn rules over the channel/publication. Oh.. add the consumer to beginning of that line. He's the one everyone's trying to woo anyway.

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Enlightenment under the peepul tree

Professional learnings from summers... hmm...

1) Field work is a pain. Wonder how companies get this kind of work done when the eager-to-impress, young, innocent interns aren't around?

Spent the last 3 weeks battling the Bombay summer & the humidity doing non-consumer research. I don't know if I have any great business revelations but I do have a tan that's going to take the whole of next term at MICA to get rid of.

2) Some days are just coffee breaks :-) {Would Scott Adams buy this one please?}

3) I can never get tired of surfing the Net.

4) I can't wait to start working... and have some summer interns of my own.

5) After MICA, there's probably going to be a battle between Money and Professional Satisfaction.

6) Which leads me to the only question that summer has thrown up... media or brand management?

7) When you work on a laptop AND a desktop simultaneously, you can pass off as the busiest person in the office. Well, I "worked" only on my laptop... the desktop was for the Net.

8) MICAn camaraderie and networking is not a myth. We have amazing alumni.

It didn't "rock" ... but it wasn't so bad either.

Friday, May 27, 2005

Rediscovery of the blog & of self

Totally forgot about the blog that I created 3 months ago... but time for some serious posting now.

Been in Bombay for the last 2 months doing my summer internship with Starcom. The summer has been good in general... the days ranging from exciting to utterly insipid.

What stands out is the brilliant combination of learning, awakening, fun and lessons in survival that Bombay gave me. The city just gained a new lover.

It's alive for more than 20 hours a day & perpetually abuzz. It's amazing that it can absorb so many people and still run the way it does.

Some memories of summer that will always remain with me are:

1) Traveling on the local trains. I hated it at first... but two months later I've realised that it's just a way of life. The pushing, the scramble, the groping (!) and sitting with half-a-posterior on the fourth seat... it's actually enjoyable when you get used to it. Also picking up earrings for Rs 5 from the vendors, counting the stations as they passed, trying to learn Marathi from passing conversations & reading the ads for downmarket products like Churan (raat ko lo aur subah free), Rupa lingerie (aisa support aur kahan) and weight loss clinics (ek mahine mein 5 kilo, do mahine mein dus).

2) The DNA researchers in their purple shirts, the Bombay Mirror researchers & the HT Response kids. A ubiquitous sight all through the summer. A lot of symapthy went out to them... they were on every railway station & most neighborhoods trying to get a largely indifferent public to sign up for their publications.
But the newspaper battle in Bombay looks very interesting. I find TOI to be very low on content, gimmicky and over-priced (I've read two newpapers a day for the same price as TOI in Bombay). TOI goes overboard with property ads. For someone who's years away from buying property in Bombay - these pages featuring ridiculously expensive apartments in Madh Island, Kadivili & Thane seemed pretty worthless.
Midday is an entertaining read... I saw a copy of Bombay Mirror, but found Midday scores over it, at least in presentation. Will check out the first issue on 30th for a better idea.
But it's good to see TOI getting some competition. Does good for both readers, advertisers & media planners.


3) People in Bombay. They're always short of time & always look harried. But the city seems to be a great leveller. Most people are unpretentious, they don't have hang-ups & are not pseud... unlike frosty-nosed folks in Delhi. They're willing to help, they don't mind walking on the road & even if they spit everywhere (!), they're at least nice enough to give (correct) directions when you ask.

4) Eating out. Lovely places for both food & great atmosphere. Tried both ends of the pricing spectrum & enjoyed completely. Colaba Causeway is a foodie's paradise... Picadilly for the best Lebanese food this side of the Arabian Gulf, Cafe Churchill for Italian food. Lil further away near Churchgate were Not Just Jazz By the Bay & Gaylords. In my side of town, I liked Cream Center, Smokin Joe's, The Grill for sizzlers and some small bakeries and chaat & wada pav joints.

5) Movies. At the Imax dome, multiplexes and single screen theatre with their old world charm (reminded me of Sangeet & Anand in Hyd). Saw White Noise, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Robots, Hitch, Kya Kool Hain Hum, Naina, Harry Potter and the something of something.
Skipped Kaal, Star Wars, Kingdom of Heaven, Waqt & whatever else I imagined I wouldn't be able to sit through. Love R-Adlabs at R-Mall in Mulund - a comfy, clean place where you'll invairably get tickets even 5 mins before show time. Sterling near CST with its caramel popcorn rocks. And so does the G-7 multiplex in Bandra.