Memories of a Brilliant Project

I am in memoirs mood... what better to start than the best project i have done than my ALP in SP Jain with Jaejo, Matt and Soji...

Well to start of , the project didnt include half the team, i mean it was a very young team to begin with when Kanno walked out and me and Matt were left with just each other to do a project. We still are doing it, we decided. Then a random thought, why not ask Jaejo. The grand old man thought about it for a while, obviously weighed down by academic interests, he must have had a thought- The indian cricket selectors are opting for youth and i can try it out as well, but that would mean academic interests take a back seat.. he finally danced his way into the team with some pomp... Jaejo thought his academic interest burden must be let loose and to give it to Sojish is as dangerous, Finally history was made, heavens applauded, the UB GLOBAL team is formed.

First meet with the UB team at bangalore, the set up itself is 2 hour long. Our college is such a high fundoo campus that the Video conference doesnt allow for any conference. We just have a glimpse of our mentor and beloved Achu, but then it snapped and we decided to have just a voice call. It worked as well. We had a good plan of action lined up. Prof Seetha introduced us to team and almost told UB to give us a job with them right away. uff, that was close to being a dampner but hey the rest of the meet went fine.

What followed was a series of meeting with business federations, heads of industry, stealing info off data servers with mail accounts, even dates with car parking areas, off to remote corners of singapore usually in teams of two. Me and Jaejo ( experience with naiveness), sojish and Matt (acting and action).

The best days were balanced only with better days, calculating weird numbers, searching for any possible contacts, talking to professors, we couldnt have explored any other options. Work was always mitigated by sessions of cricket match scores and live reports by me, some singing sessions apart from the buffonery that Sojish subjects us to. lots of firefighting happened at a lot of times, Sojish got elected to the PLACOM and arun didnt like it too much, nor when any deadline was even half met. But work happened at slick notes and a rocking final presentation followed.

Well for hardwork theres always just reward. And for bearing the best of our work, the batch got a farewell reward too. 72 pints of Kingfisher beer gulped down by thirsty maverick throats. And to the rollign credits, the young part of the team didnt have any......... We guys rocked dudes.. not for nothing do i call this my best learning experience. The BEST OF My life

Social Media Marketing at its best

The recent campaign by Aircel "Save our tigers" is a marketers dream. Who said Social media marketing is a dying art. This is a perfect promotion vehicle.

Here we have a company who has a strong base down south. And looking to expand pan-india. What is the traditional way to expand. Hire a national icon- Shah rukh khan is everyones favorite. Promise the sun and capture the sand.

The marketing team at Aircel has done exactly that. Hired Dhoni as brand ambasaddor, but hey theres a hitch... theres too much competition and an urge to be different than just the same. Docomo is offering PPS, competing on that would be a Me too. But hey, i get the idea from one of Dhonis ads.. The last campaign that featured Dhoni encapsulated the VAS (Value added services) of Aircel. He says its mobile on the go to blog, check scores online and update facebook , share pics.

But hey they go smarter still. "Save our Tigers" is launched. The aircel campaign goes CSR, 1411 tigers says the campaign and counting down. Dudes, you touched the chords of an average indian. Then it says, blog, write and share on their packaged site and lo. Aircel is promoted.

A brilliant piece of Strategic marketing whereby they have tried to build Aircel as a brand with a conscience. I particularly like the telecom market at the moment, where they are identifying different niches. Vodafone said connectivity with its Pug campaign , Idea is somewhere on the CSR range as well with "what an idea" sirjee. Interesting times to be a telecom marketer.

My Name is Varun Sankar and i am Impressed

I get up today expecting a real gluttony over myself for booking tickets for a Karan Johar Movie that had SRK and Kajol. Last couple of times this had happened, i was utterly disappointed that i decided to give KANK a miss. Actually K3G had one of my relatives repeatedly asking in between long sleeps over the movie ... Why doesnt Kareena wear clothes!!!!... It was that mushy and boring.

Over the years, this guy Karan Johar who i now realize is an utterly intelligent director, sensed the reaction of the audience (Or atleast people like me) and decided just to produce movies with happy result, i was pleasently surprised by Dostana and Wake up Sid. I was happy at that status quo. I used to cringe at another mushy movie starring his favorite protagonists, Rahul and Anjali.... But hey the promos seemed different. Welcome to MNIK said the promos, Well i guess some people in Matoshree and Pitoshree may object.

To cut it short... A standing ovation for a film-maker. This is Karan Johars triumph. A movie with its Heart in the absolute right place. Was the movie 2 and half hours? the first two hours were to me rivetting narration. This is how life would be i felt if any other person was Rizwan Khan. The last half an hour was a big dud... I agree, but this was fabulous makeover for a man who i thought bought in mush to indian cinema (he was a partner in crime in DDLJ) too.

When i think of that, i realise when you look at yourself, at what you have done, and if you can revisit yourself, not repeat mistakes, and continously look to evolve as a person, you make not only a better person but a really terrific and intelligent human being who would not only get respect, he would have earned it.......