New Media Classification

Am posting one of my working papers here to get some feedback before I start writing the entire paper. Promise ! This post will not be here for long. My apologies for posting such a long and potentially boring article. Your feedback, as always will be most valuable. Will be very grateful for Your inputs to make this a better article. If you start reading with no/low expectations, you might even enjoy the read!

Categorization of Media Vehicles in the Digital world

Abstract

 ‘Digital media’ or ‘new media’ is a broad term encompassing many media vehicles. This is akin to bunching all print media vehicles that appear every day as ‘dailies’, whereas it is well known that Newspapers, Business dailies, tabloids are all very different from each other. The article attempts to categorize digital media vehicles based on a number of factors. Categorization helps compare the effectiveness and provides a framework for teaching the basics of new media. There are generally three types of media online which are display, search and permitted push, each with multiple media vehicles. Another recent way is to categorize new media into Paid, Earned and Owned media. The article discusses the various media vehicles under the three media types online and concludes that different criteria are required to categorize new media.

Introduction

The time spent on the Internet and mobile devices by users as a part of their day is increasing substantially year on year. The time spent on television has remained stable and the time for reading newspapers or listening to radio has been reducing. What the digital world has gained has been mainly at the cost of newspapers in terms of media consumption habits. There are many global and Indian studies to substantiate this.

Consumers spend 20-25% of their time online, so ad spend should follow that and stabilize around that level. The digital world offers many media vehicles and this is an attempt to identify the important media vehicles available in the digital world and list them.

“The advertisement expenditure on the digital media, which includes internet and mobile mediums, will increase by 30 per cent to Rs. 9,450 crore in 2017, shows a survey by Group M. According to the survey, the digital media will see a growth of 30 per cent this year as compared with just 8 per cent for TV and 4.5% for print, respectively.” 1 Most developed countries have crossed the 30% mark for the share of new media in total advertising budgets, while India is still closer to 15%. This only highlights the growing importance of new media and the growth potential.

Traditional media class were categorized based on factors such as frequency, as dailies/weeklies/ monthlies for example, content; like news, soap opera, sports, timing; as in day time television, evening newspaper or late night shows. None of these criteria appear as a good way to categorize new media.  New media is one to one, interactive and asynchronous and yet has some of the conveniences of mass media for an advertiser. The characteristics of new media demand a different basis for categorization of media vehicles in the digital world.

Some Definitions:

At the outset it helps to recapitulate the common definitions for some of the important expressions used here. The definitions for medium and media vehicles are completely inspired from Vin Crosbie 2

Digital World: The Internet, mobile world, and the emerging convergent world

Medium – The means of communicating a message. There are three; one to one, mass media, and new media (the digital world)

Media Class – A general category of media like Print, Broadcast, or new media

Media Vehicle: Specific print, electronic or digital medium employed in an advertising campaign. Any specific vehicle used to deliver an advertising message.

The wonderful aspect of new media is that it offers all the personalization opportunities of a one to one medium as well as the advantages of mass communication, thanks to addressability.

Why Categorization?

New media appears like one large uniform medium offering the same opportunities and communication effectiveness, however, there are many different components of new media which offer different options for marketing communication. Advertisers must match their campaign goals with proven effectiveness of the specific media vehicle for the task and it will help to compare the various options within new media. Another important reason for categorization is to provide a framework for teaching the basics of new media.

“Categorization is the process of dividing the world into groups of entities whose members are in some way similar to each other. Recognition of resemblance across entities and the subsequent aggregation of like entities into categories lead the individual to discover order in a complex environment. Without the ability to group entities based on perceived similarities, the individual’s experience of any one entity would be totally unique and could not be extended to subsequent encounters with similar entities in the environment”10

Media theory has a lot to do with understanding the social impact of various media vehicles and since each of the media vehicles in the digital world has different and varying levels of impact on society it helps to breakdown new media into components or media vehicles.

Types of media vehicles in the digital world:

When we consider that media vehicles are categorized based on characteristics of a medium, new media can be divided based on the new media asset types as

Website

Platform

Web Portal

Search Engine

Virtual Events

Social media (a Platform)

Each of these is different, however, they can be combined, linked, and used in different ways. This does not give us a good idea about the media vehicles from a communicator’s perspective as the functions, usage, linking and how they connect with potential customers and customers are unique.

For understanding Integrated Marketing Communications using new media we can categorize all new media into three categories. These differ in their functionality, results sought and achievable, and the method of communication.

Display: Much like an advertisement on TV or in a newspaper these vehicles offer opportunities to display the brand message.

Search: These are media vehicles that herd potential customers towards the brand when they are searching for the brand or a generic solution to a problem that they want to solve now or in the future.

Permitted Push: These media vehicles are used in a permission based marketing environment. It is generally an audience of one whose permission has been sought to send the message. It combines display, interactivity and is generally customizable.

Display media vehicles on the web:

Internet advertising: The internet offers many options for display advertising and include the following. The list is only a top level view and digital real estate is very large. Wherever specific websites/portals are mentioned these are only indicative and most popular at the time of writing this article.

Banners of different sizes and shapes on popular and/or target specific websites is a common display media vehicle that can be used to draw audiences to an offer or another webpage. This is much like a signboard on a highway or busy intersection. Some specific vehicles include banner advertising at portals, online news channels, and other websites relevant to the target audience

Sponsored pages in portals, hubs and other websites that aggregate content. For example a business school sponsors a page in the online directory of business schools (also called micro site). Brands can also sponsor pages like online scoreboard of a cricket match for example

Classifieds: Classified advertisements offer small display spaces, however they are almost like a search media since audiences looking for the product/service are exposed to the communication. Some examples of sites that offer classifieds are www.Craigslist.com and www.99acres.com

Listings: Listing in directories, industry association websites, and any list on the web

Yellow pages: There are a number of yellow pages online and each offers a range of display options. From merely listing to sponsored pages, banners, reviews and credibility ratings many options are available. Www.alibaba.com for B to B and www.justdial.com for B to C are quite popular in India.

YouTube Channel: YouTube offers the opportunity of a dedicated channel for video content. When one has sufficient content that can draw its audience, this is a great content pull media vehicle. Many customers visit the YouTube channel of their favorite brands to view old and new television commercials. Most product demonstrations and assembly/usage tutorials definitely use this media vehicle. In B to B, showcasing the working of a machine/s, or a factory tour can be done extremely well with this media vehicle. YouTube at once offers space for display advertisements both on the page and on videos being watched, opportunity to store videos and also be searched for specific content.

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Website: A company or brand website is a great display media vehicle. Building a catalogue, positioning a brand, telling the complete story, sharing a point of view are all eminently possible in the advertiser controlled environment of a website.

Virtual Exhibitions: While this is more common in industrial products, virtual exhibitions to mirror real exhibitions, purely on line exhibitions of a particular category of products and such opportunities are virtual options to showcase and display communication and products.

Traditional Media online: All traditional media like Newspapers, and television channels mirror their content online and offer many opportunities for display advertising.  The e-newspapers, Television channels, and radio channels are available as channels in live streaming and their content is also available on websites.  Many newspapers carry the print advertisements online as a part of the online edition of a traditional newspaper. The online version of traditional media channels offer excellent opportunities for display advertising.

Permitted Push:

 “Findings identified five key trends relevant to advertisers including: a move towards permission-based advertising; higher levels of personalized advertisements; more three screen advertising campaigns; increased levels of interactivity and the development of performance-based metrics.”3

 Permission based advertising is the same as permitted push, In both cases first permission of the customer is sought and then, acceptable advertising delivered.

Media vehicles that offer the potential of sending out messages to specific customers/customer groups and build a rapport/ relationship include social media, Mobile communications, and email or database communications.

Social Network: This offers instant multi-media messaging to subscribers/followers/members, anyone who has permitted the communication. Micro-blogging with a service like Twitter, discussions and networking among professional contacts through Linked-in and networking for instant communications that is two way as in Face book, all offer great potential to create and build a network of brand loyalists.

“The study conclusively shows that the publicity effectiveness is superior in social media as compared to “traditional” online media. There is a similarity between social-media marketing and WOM advertising. In each case, the unbiased nature of the sender—and other perceptions of his or her credibility—play a greater role in social media than in traditional media.”4

Mobile

The number of mobile internet users is estimated to reach 478 million by June 2018, according to a report titled Mobile Internet in India 2017, published jointly by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and KANTAR-IMRB. The report estimates 291 million urban mobile internet users and 187 million Rural mobile internet users as on December 2017. “With the growth we are witnessing in India, there is no question that mobile is a must-buy for brands who intend to reach Indian consumers at scale. With so many consumers using mobile devices as a primary means to digital media consumption, mobile is the complimentary media channel to TV for reach extension while still maintaining a compelling brand experience that will only improve as smart phones penetrate at scale over the next year.”5

Some of the specific tools include sending short messaging service (SMS) messages, Location specific messages like in a mall or store, interactive messages as in a tele call or song download, news and other subscriptions can also be used to promote brands including services like astrology, travel and search.

Mobile Apps: This is a fast emerging as an important permitted push option on the smart phones which places the brand in the hands of the customers. Apps can be used for display advertising, customized search, purchase, feedback and many other functions.

There are many subscribers who have now signed up to the 'do not disturb' scheme. While this appears like a dampener, it has made for more specific targeting as many subscribers are willing to receive relevant messages from specific organizations/numbers.

Digital database marketing /Email Campaign

This is a very cost effective permission marketing activity that is sharply targeted. Opt-in Newsletters and White papers are good examples, even as regular sales letters can be emailed. Invitations to online/offline events and conducting webinars for invited/opt in audiences is a great digital media vehicle.

OUTBOUND		INBOUND
Display	Permitted Push	Search	Content Pull
Banners	Email Campaign Mobile messaging	Paid Inclusion	Brand Created Content
Classified Advertising	Facebook page and other social media interactions	Search Re-targeting/back links	Case Studies, Blogs, Whitepapers, E-books, Infographics, Video, long form content
Web site	Mobile Apps	SEO	User Created Content
YouTube		Affiliate Marketing	Feedback websites, Picture/video sharing, blogs,
Virtual Exhibitions		SEM: Search network and Display network
Traditional media online		QR Codes

Categorization of Media Vehicles in the digital world

Search Media

Search media is what is really new about new media. This is leveraging customer interest to the maximum. Search media is a means of communicating where being seen by those specifically searching either for a brand/product/service is most important. There are many tools used to improve the chances of being seen by relevent potential customers. Search Engine Marketing is the most commonly used media vehicle. Google AdWords is a great example. When a member of the target audience is searching for something, an advertisement appears along with the search results, thereby giving the greatest chance of conversion at the moment the potential customer is looking for choices. Free listing at google will also throw up a particular page, however the page link may appear in 5^th, 6^th or 100^th page making it not really useful.

Search Engine Optimization is another way of improving the chances of being seen when a search is carried out. This includes many software tools, language tools and optimization algorithms. Most websites in a competitive world need to ensure that SEO is carried out. This is a continuous activity and not a onetime fix.

Search is emerging as the most important aspect of the digital world media vehicles and innovations are a daily occurrence in this area. The Return on Investment, measurability and flexibility offered is by far the best among the various digital media vehicles.

Content Pull

An extension of search with the qualities of display are Content pull media vehicles. The brand creates content that is interesting, useful or novel and attracts the audience and/or customers create content about the brand in the form of reviews, pictures, guides and comparisons.

 Advertisers create case studies of brand at work, employee blogs about frontiers of technology or such interesting content that positions the employee and the brand. White Papers on use cases, E-books, how to videos, and even long written content detailing products, technology or about sourcing from fairly paid farmers in some remote country are all aimed at drawing potential and existing customers to the brands content. Content pull is creating or using user created content to draw an audience towards the brand, its views, and sometimes to provide information.

Brand users who are generally more credible create content and share the content. Some user created content have even gone viral, greatly supporting the brand and sometimes creating a problem for the brand. Reviews, product use/assembly videos, comments, old advertisements/packs, comparisons and opinions on review websites like mouthshut.com or pricecompare.com are all content about the brand created by users and customers. Writing about specific brands in personal blogs or displaying brand names on business websites to use as ingredient brands are all useful and credible communication tools, even if the advertiser/brand owner does not have much control on the media vehicle. 

Blogging: There are basically two main types of blogs. One is a company blog which posts the latest happenings and the companies/brands views. The other is the employee blogs which are content populated by employees specially those who are experts. Employee blogs enjoy great credibility and can pull people to the brand and a lot of content about the brand, products, case studies etc., whereas personal blogs mentioning the brand names provide credible reviews.

Categorization needs new criteria

Even as display advertising, advertorials and editorial are to newspapers, display, search, and content may be to new media, however, with every advancement in technology the lines are blurring and what is display is also content pull or user created content. For example on YouTube you can have display advertisements, post content that audience will search for and users can also create content and post on your YouTube channel. Similarly the boundaries between interpersonal and mass communication are blurring as in the case of Facebook. Each platform like Facebook, YouTube, or search engine like Google offer unique combination of communication possibilities, which might suggest we look at each platform as a different media vehicle, however, that would disregard the similarities among the offerings. The growing ad blocking on one side and increasing response to retargeting using display advertising are factors one cannot ignore when trying to categorize a vehicle as search or display. It is more about what function is being used in the campaign, both how and where. Measurement tools for search are different from that for Display, in fact each media type has a different measurement tool and criteria.

In  March 2009 Daniel Goodall, a senior marketing professional came up with Owned, Bought, and Earned media as a way of looking at new media.

Owned Media: Assets on the web like a website

Bought Media: Media that you pay for like display advertising and Pay per click and other search based products

Earned Media: Where you do something so cool or interesting that people use their own media to tell others about it. When the material is shared then it is earned for the content creator/curator. 6

In December 2009, Sean Corcoran writing in a Forrester blog modified it slightly, to include a more common media term of paid rather then bought, and wrote about Earned, Owned and Paid media.

Owned Media; Channel a brand Controls

Paid Media: Brand pays to leverage a channel

Earned Media: when customers become the channel 7

This type of categorization is likely to be more accurate than categorizing it as Inbound/Outbound, Display/Search etc., however, in a classroom setting and when one is discussing with those learning the basics of digital marketing both types of categorization and how technology is adding addressability and other functions to each media vehicle creating the need for a categorization based on ownership, payment and sharing might be useful.

The 'Digital Advertising in India' report, jointly published by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International considers the following as different formats within digital advertising

·        Search

·        Display

·        Mobile (SMS, in app ads etc.)

·        Social Media (face book, LinkedIn etc.)

·        Email

·        Video

The recent report indicates the dominance of ‘search’ with both social media and video growing fast. 8

Research needs:

Even as new media is now accepted as inevitable in any media plan, substantial research needs to be done to be able to use the medium to its fullest. Some of the questions that research is yet to answer specially with reference to India include the following:

What is the ideal ratio between expenditure on search media, permitted push communications and display media vehicles?

How does one integrate the online, mobile and traditional media vehicles in terms of content, timing and positioning the brand?

Aesthetics of the advertisement and the language of communication needs to be global. Do we need cross cultural teams? Are there global appeals and aesthetic sensibilities?

Does this type of categorization help in choosing and comparing media vehicles?

The immediate future:

“Digital media brings about infinite reproduction of content, consumer networking, user-generated content and an expansion of media from news and entertainment to almost any technology that has a digital interface with people. The role of media in marketing communications practices shifts from the execution of message strategies into an extension of consumer understanding. Media planning, the practice of allocating a media budget across a set of vehicles, will be replaced by a dynamic, automated process that serves ads based on information streams of consumer intentions and actions. Several of the core principles of IMC - consumer insight, data-driven decision making, cross-media integration and communications with multiple stakeholders - represent an improved framework for managing communications in a digital world.”9

With the growing popularity of movement marketing which uses and fuses all media vehicles and types to sponsor cultural movements for a brand, classification within new media might only serve an academic purpose of being able to differentiate and understand the contribution of each media vehicle in the overall scheme.

The Limitations of this Categorization

This article is agnostic to the device of production or device of delivery/consumption, both of which are important elements and impact both costs and results. In traditional media vehicles like print advertising the production method used might have some impact on the final results, however, in the digital world the device of production will not only impact the quality of the production e.g.: video richness , it defines the immediacy. Immediacy can be a strategic advantage (even if not sustainable!) in the digital world thanks to the advertisers near absolute control on the scheduling. For example if the camera has facilities for editing, correction; enhancement and uploading, things can happen much faster than if the image needs to go through a computer to do all these things.

The device of delivery/consumption is also critical to how quickly a message can reach the audience, quality of visuals/sound, and in many cases the ease of response for interactive media. In case of mobile phones it is generally on and available all the time, and, SMS generally gets notified immediately, this may not be the case with a Facebook post for example which might not get notified generally. The Facebook post can be audio-visual and is not limited by a number of words etc. Every device of delivery changes the immediacy, look and feel, interactivity, ease of access and a host of other elements. Except for the form factor, functionally most devices have many similar capabilities and most content is available in different devices this factor may complicate categorization without adding much value.

Impact of newer technologies

With increasing internet speeds, telepresence and such technologies,  Artificial intelligence improving algorithms’ with big data; addressability, interactivity, response speed, sharpness of retargeting and every feature of new media will continue to change. Programmatic advertising blurs the lines even further between media vehicle characteristics. The present scenario is a fast evolving period for new media and therefore categorization criteria might take some time to be well defined. It will help decision making about media vehicle choice and in teaching if specific media vehicles and their attributes are clearly defined, however, for now this can only be restricted to a discussion.

References:

1.      http://www.afaqs.com/news/story/49866_AdEx-to-increase-by-10-per-cent-in-2017-FMCG-to-lead-GroupM - last accessed on 29/12/2017

2.      What is New Media? Vin Crosbie, 1998

3. Practitioners' perceptions of advertising strategies for digital media.- International Journal of Advertising; 2010 Yann Truong¹ McColl, Rod²
   Kitchen, Philip³
4. Following the Fashionable Friend:The Power of Social Media,Weighing Publicity Effectiveness Of Blogs versus Online Magazines. Jonas Colliander,Stockholm School of Economics & Micael Dahlén Stockholm School of Economics Journal of Advertising Research, Mar2011, Vol. 51 Issue 1, p313-320, 8p
5. www.inmobi.com in their press release about a recent study, 2011

6.      https://danielgoodall.com/2009/03/02/owned-bought-and-earned-media/

7.      https://go.forrester.com/blogs/09-12-16-defining_earned_owned_and_paid_media/

8. https://www.medianama.com/2017/02/223-advertising-india-2017-18-charts/ - last accessed on 21/12/2017
9. Integrated marketing communications: From media channels to digital connectivity.Mulhern, Frank¹ Journal of Marketing Communications; Apr2009, Vol. 15 Issue 2/3, p85-101, 17p,
10. Elin K. Jacob, School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University–Bloomington, 1320 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47405–180, LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 52, No. 3, Winter 2004, pp. 515–540

Branding Business Schools

With over 2000 approved B schools and many more unapproved ( i.e.neither approved by AICTE nor affiliated to a regular university) schools competition is intense. Location has been an important aspect of the image being created with Delhi, Bangalore and Pune having an edge over other cities.  Today the time has come to look at the elements of the brand more closely ( what the brand stands for), design communications to impact chosen target markets, and increasingly  provide salience. Creating a difference that  students/parents value is not good enough in a crowded market, there is a requirement to be more visible than competition. Yes, word of mouth is the best for any educational institution, however, with huge investments that are going in, the need to pay back quickly is only increasing.

Brand salience/visibility/impact is essential. Creating communications that draw attention, create impact, are memorable and comprehensible by target audiences are also equally important. Creating a unique brand needs to build synergistic-ally the various elements of a higher education brand. To understand what these elements are we need to look at the needs of the three important stakeholders 1.Students 2.Parents and 3. Employers.The criteria used to evaluate a school by these stakeholders is crucial to the understanding of how to position business schools.

The various aspects one needs to consider include the following. First one needs to build points of parity with competing institutions and then choose some elements that can be differentiators.
1. Infrastructure - This includes facade, class rooms and facilities within, labs, library, WiFi ,. As most managements are sure land and building appreciate and 'cash' can be brought in,  they invest in this rather easily and hence even AC classrooms cannot be a differentiation forget tons of marble or granite.
2. Placements: The brand names and starting pay are both important. Once these criteria are met then the job profile offered comes in as a factor. Today the purpose of higher education in general is about getting a high paying job. Careers and learning are surely passe.
3. Location: This includes location within the city, The milieu in which the institution is located. Education hubs are preferred. 
4. Student experience:  Air conditioned classrooms, Interactive white boards, quality and sociability of peers, diversity among students or otherwise, class size,  attitude of faculty ( a service provider), food, opportunities to meet industry captains, reception, Perceived fairness in examinations, physical evidence in terms of marks sheets/certificates and many many more things.
This is all inclusive and listing all the aspects of the experience is really not necessary here.
5. Institute reputation and visibility: Popular ranking, visibility among employers and general public ( need to pass out from a well known institution), rating among similar institutions, and associations with brand names for recruitment and governance.
6. Faculty: Institutions they studied in, attitude, research, engagement/experience with industry, knowledge of subjects being taught, communication skills , willingness to mentor individual student and maybe even turnout.

7. Research: Quality and quantity of research churned out. Journals and other publications. Research provides a link with industry and potential for innovation.
8. Quality of intake: eligibility and entry requirements, past students and results
9. Costs: Management of schools normally mention tuition fee, however, students and parents are more interested in total cost of acquiring the qualification.
10. Curriculum :  The degree offered, accreditation, number of specializations and type of specializations, semester or trimester system, and industry friendliness of the curriculum.

Having listed the criteria for positioning business schools, the obvious next step would be to come up with what actions and communication tools does one use. About that in the next blog or will add it to this one after getting some feedback on this. Please write in, I accept both brickbats and bouquets equally well.

Fairness, Employer branding, and a sense of belonging for an alumni

When I got a cheque from Welingkar Institute of Management last week for difference in pay it felt really nice. It is only the second time in my 30 year career it has happened. Mr.Shetty of Kanara Advertising Service, Chennai was my first employer. Having secured a secure government job I moved on. On his next visit into town from HQ, he invited me to his hotel room and handed me a cheque of Rs.2000/.+  a neat sum in 1987. This was two months after I had quit and he said rather simply that he owed me that money.

Welingkar and Kanara Advertising. Now what about the rest ? Generally they paid me my regular dues and minimum of any thing else including terminal payments. Rank Aqua was where I spent 5 years and worked hard, however the owners felt that since they gave me a chance to see USA/Japan that was terrific compensation ( and I thought it as work!) . Anyway, agreed LTC, medical was not paid for two years and a couple of months salary was also not paid.
Another bitter experience was at TMG network which ran an Institute called COMMITS. It was my first job in teaching. I had another job offer and considering that the company was not regular in payments, asked if I can be relieved earlier sothat I could take up the other job. I was told that travelling to Chennai for admissions was very important and could I please complete that. Later the last months salary was not paid. Whether it was Mr.Rao of Rank Aqua or Mr Shubanjan Sarkar of TMG , one thing that struck me was that while they denied the employees, they made no change to their lavish lifestyle. If it was for a cause we were all fighting, I wuld have happily continued to work without or with very little pay, but then.

My recent experience with Nitte was also quite interesting. A good friend introduced me to the orgn as I had completed by Phd and looking for a job. The orgn had set up a new B school and needed a director ( as per AICTE requirements) It was a dream job to nurture a green field B school. I was asked if I was free to join immediately as there was an inspection  by AICTE. This was approx in late May of early June. Having signed all the papers and supported for two days with the inspection, was asked to report to work nearly 2 months later with no pay for the intrim!. The same happened when I quit. Even after I Quit, and was unemployed for a few weeks I remained on records in employment for the purpose of legal requirements, which is not a problem, however, it is sad that employer assumed that one can survive on fresh air both at the beginning of the assignment and at the end while their requirements, which was not much, still, needed me,

My best wishes and prayers are with all my employers for they gave me chance to work and pay to run a family. I am grateful to everyone, even those who denied me what was rightfully due.

Sorry about a long and personal note on the blog. I just hope it will prepare younger folks for a journey that is not necessarily smooth all along. Is there anyone I know who wants to share similar experience? 

Womens Day - 100th - It is really simple. It is not about equality it is about difference

 The supreme court of USA has just heard the plea from women employees of Wal-Mart that they have been discriminated against. It might be true but very difficult to prove, because, this is a all pervasive phenomenon and is problem of society in general and not one company. Whichever way the case goes, I believe retailing, healthcare, education and knowledge based industries like software are more women friendly than others.

 What struck me this women's day was that everyone (men and women) is sure that things like women's reservation bill or addressing issues of the girl child are very important and useful, however we are not clear on what we need.  In the best interest of the society  in general, ( that includes women,men and children!), I think we should consider 7 hour working day for women with children in the age group of 0-14yrs. I request women who talk about equality to consider this. We must accept the differences and discard the worn out argument of superior/inferior. I wonder why women will not fight for a cause like this. Something that will benefit all of humanity present and future.

Mamata didi can not only garner more votes, she might be able to maintain at least one fourth of the toilets cleaner by allocating one of the four toilets in every compartment on the train for ladies. Those of us who travel with women and children in 2nd class will understand this and others can try to comprehend!


Like wine gets better with age, I finally read a really good article by Shobha Dey. It was about the lack of toilets for women in India and the consequences thereof. After this article, my respect for Shobha Dey has taken birth.
I remember as a teenager travelling by bus between Hyderabad and Bangalore very frequently. In the middle of night, when the bus stopped at Gooty, I would point out to a toilet the petrol station used to have, to women traveling with me.  Some of them would be grateful and many of them found it amusing. One of those trips I remember the famous actor Vaishali Kasarvelli was on the bus with her troupe.  About toilets I wish the giant PSU oil companies can insist on their DODO outlets to have reasonable toilets. THe petrol pump in high end sadhashivnagar boasts of a ATM, Restaurant, shop and the toilet.....my gosh!! The attenedents uniforms are however really nice!
 Like I forget my wife's birthday every year and wish her later, I am writing about Womens day 21 days after it has gone.
Am happy Alvin Tofler's  70's forecast about women occupying more positions in various professions and working out of home has come true, wonder what it is for the next couple of decades.

Finally What Manu  said was

"Gods are pleased, with the house in which women are respected, in that house in which women are insulted and are made to suffer, every thing done is sure to go waste.
If in a house daughter,1he daughter-in-law, and the sisters 'and other women suffer, that house is sure to be destroyed. The house in which such women live happily, secures wealth and happiness.
The family in which the wife, the daughter, the sister and the daughter-in-law, etc, are not respected and in which they suffer from insult, is sure to be destroyed.
Hence, men who seek (their own) welfare should always honour women"
MANU 3(56)-(57)-(58)
I copied this from "DHARMA -The Global Ethic by Justice M. Rama Jois
 Do write in with your views. Only Your comments keep this blog alive.

Management Education in India - Rudderless policy, Governance, and Teachers

There many kinds of management programs in India. World-wide the consensus is that it is more important where you studied than the program itself because education is mostly about learning, environment, experience, relationships, world-views  and not so much the name of the degree.

1. AICTE approved PGDM programs. These are autonomous programs approved by AICTE. There are less than 300 such institutes in India and many of the good ones have chosen to add the next variety rather than meet requirements of AICTE for larger student strength. When such a program has a equivalence certificate to MBA from the Association of Indian University ( AIU) it is the best of programs and accreditation.
2. University MBA programs offered by state/government universities outside their legal geographic territory ( the area of operation specified by the state) . These are actually distance programs but disguised as regular programs and classes are held for two years. This is the most common type of MBA offered for students who are searching nationally for a program. Does the AIMA PGDM come in this category? I think so, except that it is offered by AIMA and is approved by AICTE as a distance program
3. Same as above except that it is offered by a deemed university, many of whom are themselves running the universities based on a supreme court stay order, even as the government is convinced that these are not centers of excellence to be offered the status of universities. (University under sec3 of UGC act is all that is mentioned. How is the common man to know what this is?
4. PGDM program offered independently by the institute which has no government approval of any kind.
5. MBA programs offered by state/government university though departments in the university or through affiliated colleges within the authorized area of operation.

Many institutes these days also offer type 2 and 4 as a combination. Purely by the spirit of the laws of the land  type 1 and type 5 are legal. Some others are just legal ( as a distance course), and many are not recognized at all. I wonder if the education minister is aware of the structure of the management education market. The recent notification by AICTE  does not clarify things to the confused student not does it help improve the quality of programs in any way. Yes there are many problems with the industry including profiteering, however, in a free market, eventually competition will take care of many issues. Having said that, we should also be aware that the customers are unaware and a confused lot to be able to make logical decisions when bombarded with information and having constraints of both time and money. When the market is uninformed or unsuspecting, can we still call it a free market? that is another question altogether.

Best of luck to potential management students. There are many options and choice is a responsibility not similar to choosing  from the many flavors of ice-cream!

When I see the the videos of the NPTEL program or faculty from engineering colleges attending workshops at one of the IITs, I wonder why we have institutions of national importance in management which are state sponsored islands of  quality in a ocean of muck.

Having been teaching a new subject in  the university system like 'Retailing' - Have tried many times to attend a program in one of the IIM's . It costs more than 3 months of my salary and neither the government that sponsors these institutions nor the governing boards ( consisting of Industry leaders who want to hire good management graduates and ensure that students going to the SME sector do not get similar quality education for obvious reasons!) have thought about how to make quality management education easily accessible to teachers in lower rung institutes. There are less than 5 private management institute managements in India who will sponsor a teacher paying full fee to attend a program at a IIM.

Apart from a infrequent FDP there are no linkages between the great institutions and the aspiring ordinary . Faculty are very keen about doing consulting work, which is great, however what about the moral responsibility of creating a larger community of good management teachers? One reason these state sponsored high flyers dont want to get their hands dirty could be that those who are not in these top institutions are dumb. It must be true too, if one goes by qualifications and my own lack of ability to comprehend many of what to me are difficult concepts. I dont however, think that that is good reason.

 It would be easy to say that my students cannot understand, the difficult part of a teachers job is to accept the student however she/he is and try to add as much as possible to their understanding. This brings up another question...Does the syllabus for all management institutes have to be based on the very best, knowing that the abilities of students, teachers are different and their aspirations / job profiles are all so different. About that some other time.

Sadly for me, I want this blog to be about marketing and retail, however I have ended up writing mostly about the management education space. Hopefully, I will  return to my knitting soon. Do write in......come on....your comments will enrich me and other readers of this blog. 

Whether you find this cynical or 'bang on'...whatever do thump out your views for me and others to see

Will Networking kill Meritocracy?

Placements/Jobs happen with references. You get concessions in fee or charges if you know the right people. Even getting invited to an event is based on your network rather than if you are the most relevant audience for the event.
Is the world getting smaller because of improved networking and ideas like 'six degrees of separation' or is each individual's world getting smaller? Think about it and let me know.
Someone with obvious/proven merit maybe getting left out because he lacks the 'right' network.
Is this fair? To organizations/ institutions, the meritorious, and society at large?

Have I stopped using my network to advantage? Definitely  NO.............I have started to think of the guy who might be better and lacks friends in right places.    

Digital marketing communications - come on, please move to the next level

I made this slide using the blue-tooth messages received when one entered the forum mall in Bangalore. This was three years ago. Yes, three years. Sadly no one identifies me as the shopoholic 50 year old, size 46, who loves everything chocolate including colour, and sends me relevant messages. Technology is available and being used even in poorer European countries I hear. Recession, Comfortable lethargy among organised retailers who are having a whale of a time with no serious competition, or lack of marketing from technology companies, any guesses why the stagnation on this front?

Shopping bags and store positioning

I made this slide to explain how something that seems so innocuous as a shopping bag can tell a story about prices, fashion quotient, attitude of the store and products. All pics are downloaded from google images.

Retail is detail - Well said Sam Walton!

MBA/PGDM admissions beyond IIM's - Will policy changes sustain?

The picture is one I took outside the PGCET counselling centre Bangalore. There were 50-60 institutes pushing their brochures, conducting street-site counselling etc. Aggressive, cut-throat, mercenary...all will fit with marketing of management courses in India now.

The number of seats vacant in MBA/PGDM colleges for the year 2010 is a number that surely means that there are 30-40% more seats than there were students looking for admission last year. Perceived Quality matters. Obviously, the seats that were not filled were in institutes that were relatively unknown and/or those that dependent on government to fill in the seats.
 MBA @ around Rs.20,000 in AP and around Rs.50,000 in Karnataka (merit based govt admissions fee) and still no takers. Where will this go?
The recent policy on admission process, fee and maybe even syllabus announced by AICTE will surely keep the well known PGDM looking for ways to regain the freedom.
Admissions in 2011 will be interesting and consolidate the B school industry.....may even be the tipping point.
Do write in with your comments and watch this space for more on this.