Meatball Sundae: Seth Godin's Lament on Traditional Marketing

Well another book I just completed reading was one recommended by our consumer behaviour prof during the course (word of mouth marketing ???)... Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin. A great write on how the old tricks of the trade called Marketing have been completely ruled out by an increasingly connected world by way of blogs, communities , social media and the phenomenon of online retail. The book is distinctively non-Indian in character as the brands enunciated barely have an Indian connection which is why a reader like me or lets say an Indian like me may feel alien at times during the read yet the ideas put forward by Godin are well received. The book is a pun on the tools of traditional marketing like TV Advertising and various other ways employed by companies in the past decades to grab consumer's attention not to forget those mails received by post from the magazine houses in the hope of atleast  a few hits on the right customers and those innumerable calls at all the wrong times that still bug many Indians including me. The erstwhile push strategy no longer holds for the increasingly busy customer. Seth propunds the idea of Inbound marketing to allow an interested consumer who may have a great feedback for your product to directly communicate his views to you in contrast to the outbound marketing by which the company expends so much in educating an uninterested consumer. The crux is if a customer needs it he will find a way to hit on you , the important role on your part being the ease of availability to the right customer at the right time and if  you delay your response, you have to pay for a lost customer which naturally takes us to the next buzzword of new marketing -- Speed. Customers value corporates who provide a solution if not at the speed of thought but faster enough than the competitor and an experience whether good or bad generally finds its way on one of the many social networking sites or the blogs or anywhere where it gets publicity at zero cost to the company. Thats the power of new marketing. People who think alike can self organise themselves into numerous discussion groups on just about anything that interests them and internet sure gives them a platform to do so in online communities , dedicated social media accounts pertaining to a company or by means of comments on a blog. Stories are a great vent of a customer's experience and sharing them has become a Lethal Marketing tool. The book also puts forward the idea of Chris Anderson's The Long Tail , how the concept of mass is replaced by an increasing number of consumers under the long tail subscribing to different products. The One size fits All is out. Inviduality and customisation is what the new consumer is all about. He has so much to choose from that he does not care , its you who have to care about him and make him feel the same. Great Ideas and the ability to leverage the new marketing tools to promote them has helped many companies to thrive. And the sooner you make a conscious effort to reform your business model in conformance with the times the better are the chances of survival.
Here I would like to introduce a Perspective on India:
       India has a long way to go before the new  marketing is embraced by companies in its actual spirit. Although the ever increasing penetration of foregin brands in the country may spur a speedy transition in the Indian brands market many have already boarded the bandwagon of new marketing. There are numerous web portals where you can plan your journey right from booking airline tickets to online booking of hotels or any special destinaion trips, this has come to revolutionize the hospitality industry in a big way, the customer has the freedom to choose from the plan that suits him the best. Thanks to internet banking and the web portals, the Government owned Railways is not far behind and the bus transport has also joined in and thus the travel scenario has broken those long queues at the ticket counters many a times in the peak heat of summers. Multiplex Ticketing is another scenario which gives you the ease of selecting your seat in the movie hall at the power of a single click, Customer Convenience has really come home. Ferns and Petals or other gifts delivery companies are definitely doing a great job, the online site is not static , come any festival from raksha bandhan to father's day mother's day and so on from valentine's to the traditional karwa chauth and from diwali to eid to christmas ...the website presents occasion specific gift options with the option for midnight surprises as well on your beloved's birthdays , teriffic isnt it and sure the company is doing great. In retail also brands including Raheja's Shoppers Stop and Biyani's Future Group are fast bringing the ease of shopping at your home , sure if you would like to try the apparel you may choose it online and save yourself hours of searching when you go to the actual showroom and try just what you like.
    Although many sites provide you with the books you may want to read yet the ease in owning a hard copy and taking it in your bag anywhere sure sounds a better idea for all those reading freaks. Landmark , Odyssey , Croossword sure capitalize on it by replacing the traditional brick and mortar model with the new click and mortar business model with dedicated sites relieving you from the pain of searching and buying a title in their stores to searching it online in a few mins and then getting it delivered. Magazines and journals have been wise enough to follow the same. That brings us to another safe conclusion that Logistics has a long way to go. Poorvika , Univer Cell , Mobile Store are other names synonymous with the new trends.The examples may go on and on . When I want to buy any new item I scan for relevant reviews on the same in online blogs , communities and facebook pages posted by those with similar interests be it buying something from a new mobile to just shopping for a face wash from the body shop.
Identifying the power of new marketing and modifying your business to capitalize on it asap is the call of the day. However the tool may be powerful but its Right Application and Implementation is what determines success for an organization. Seth Godin remarkably portrays the example of Josiah Wedgewood and his entrepreneurial marketing tactics in those times as a potter which transformed the art of pottery. Moving with the times or Lets say Moving Ahead of the Times worked even in the 18th century and it still does work in the 21st century -- the digital era. The power of ideas that actually work goes a long way to redefine your business and impart it the coveted sustainability. What we need today is marketing managers like Josiah Wedgewood who can go that extra mile to reform their business models in line with the new marketing.

Our Very Own Mumbai Dabbawallas

The first book I lay my hands on was on Mumbai Dabbawallas by Shrinivas Pandit .....Emblematic of fine management skills the Dabbawallas have become a much sought after subject in most of the MBA institutions in India and abroad...and this indeed was a key motivation behind choosing to read a book on them. The contents of the book follow a structured dialogue between the author and two representatives on the dabbawallas end, Raghu and Ganga ...Anyways my intention in writing this blog is not aimed at reviewing the book rather it is to reflect on the stuff I liked the most in the dabbawallas strategy.

                The first high point in the dialogue was when the dabbawallas clearly demarcate the business they are in, indeed the first step of any startegic management starts with defining the business you are in which subsequently defines your competition and other environmental factors (the widely known porter's five forces). The dabbawallas are in the business of Delivery and hence do not see the road side restaurants as a competition. A key factor that contributes to the success of their Business Model is the shared system of values among a workforce of more than 4k. Simply put , a key ingredient in the success of any organisation is a uniformly motivated workforce and the dabbawallas' reflect just that. The motivation to supply home cooked food ON-TIME with the customer at the heart of the delivery service is the binding force among them. Everyday 9 to 12 constitute the action packed hours for the dabbawallas. And yes they exhibit Time Mangement to the core of it. The operational excellence displayed by them further enhances the Brand Dabbawallas (if I may say so) with an error rate of 1 in 16 million transactions that works out tobe say once in two months. Another remarkable attribute is the coloured codes on the dabbas which guide them along the delivery routes...and mind it-its a dabbawalla innovation , a logic that has its root in a semi literate workforce.

                              A logistics enterprise that delivers home cooked food (carrying it mostly on foot) with no computer processing involved (to keep track of the delivery or the pick up or  determining the destination) , dependent on the Mumbai Local Trains - the life line of the city  and still boasts of management at its best. The dabbawallas dont perceive any need for incorporating technology in their business model, once again a customer centric approach prohibits them from passing the additional burden of technology to the customer's wallet. The business is all about subsistence.

                    What keeps the business going on? Is it because the service is highly economic perhaps not , the USP of the business is Home Cooked Food , the yearning for which or may be the necessity of which holds the key to the sustainability of the Dabbawalla model. Nothing can replace the value of mom's cooking or home food and thats exactly what the Dabbawallas thrive on and yes they are no stranger to this fact. A pizza or a burger fails to replace the dal-roti cooked in the traditional Indian way. But as all enterprises must grow the dabbawallas have very recently started delivering food from some restaurant outlets as well. Well, one should never miss an opportunity, if the dabbawallas can maximise revenues without compromising on the values of the core business such opportunities should be explored and implemented.

Nevertheless the dabbawallas have their share of accolades too which include the prestigious invitation to the wedding of  Hon. Prince Charles as also a place in the Guiness Book of World Records. Their business model has been the subject of many a documentary and a case study in business schools in India and abroad. Thus its imminent that today when ambitious corporates and people all over the world strive for increased visibility and recognition here's a brand that has made a mark internationally in all its humility, with no conscious greed for the same and still  made the country proud.

A Passion Revived

Whenever there is an introduction round whether its that first day in a new college or  one of those many interviews either to get into professional educational courses or make your way to a corporate one of the stereotype questions always takes you to say something about your hobbies...it so happened to me that one of my seniors in my MBA college asked me to reply to this very same query and there i was....it was the first time i realized something that had been a passion since my school days had long ago creeped into oblivion and i still did not quite realize it until that casual experience..i could say once upon a time READING was a hobby and then ???? my corporate life happened....till until last week when I consciously made an effort to revive the same.....not as a hobby but as a passion.......it was not that i did not read at all but yes books were out of picture for quite some time now......but as it goes its never too late to mend..i just did that...when i write this blog on reading; it would be highly unjust to skip mentioning about the inspiration behind my interest in reading and I would definitely like to mention my mom's investment into my school life and a lady named Ms.Sukham our very own English Teacher right from standard 8 who had that impeccable art of teaching Literature in English.....right from the abridged version of Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' to the Nobel Prize Winner novelist Ernest Hemingway's 'The Old Man and the Sea' ; from a pageant of poems to selected short stories and the legendary Shakespeare's ' The Merchant of Venice' ....literature in English seemed much more than simply getting a perfect grade in the board exams...and it did ignite the love for reading in me from then on but over the years which transformed me from an engineer to an analyst programmer in an IT company to finally a postgraduate student of MBA in Finance and Marketing...the flame (of reading) died out either due to lack of time or due to something else always taking precedence in my life ....but here I am at it again with an inclination towards reading management stuff; again a transition from a time when i used to scan for inspirational kind of books to present day consciously chosen titles , nevertheless i guess its the MBA Impact.....And last but not the least it feels great that this revival also subscribes me to this whole new world of Blogging.....as i write my first Blog.....!!!!!