Delhi is as foggy and as smoggy as yesterday. My Switzerland-returned neighbour has once again let his darling pooch, Princy loose to inspect and fertilise my garden. My son has decided he is going to do his hair in a ponytail; my daughter is contemplating getting her belly button pierced and my mother-in-law sighs and tells me Hamara zammana hi accha tha!
How do you think I feel? I smile and breathe deeply as I remember WH Davies’: Good Morning, Life — and all things glad and beautiful. My heart is full of anticipation, I wish I was younger and had Mercury’s feet so that I could do that little jig as I hum, Sub kuch alag hai, sab kuch naya hai… It is not spring, nor is it my birthday, nor am I in love again. It just feels good to be alive; to be there in the midst of a new decade of the millennium. The last decade brought in new rules of connecting and communicating with just everyone across the world. The I-Age reduced distances and expanded opportunities to reach out. The new language of the Zoo-Zoos and a peep into a new world of the Navi’s at Pandora; miniscule PCs that fit into your palm and Android phones that present endless possibilities. From biometrics to RFID (radio frequency identification), communication has come a long way. Is it any wonder that the next decade looks even more exciting and yet challengingly mysterious?
Some innovative means of talking to the consumer are in the offing. The other day in Delhi University I saw a pretty young girl with two interlocked C’s tattooed on her upper arm. It looked too familiar to be ignored, so I went up to her to satisfy my curiosity. Sure enough it was the logo of an international perfume brand, she had been paid a cushy amount for the temporary tattoo and the sum would be substantial if she agreed to permanent ink. I had seen this in Europe and North America with the Levis and Reebok logos tattooed on foreheads and muscled biceps but here at home this was the first time that I had encountered a walking billboard.
The experimenting young Indian seemed to be game to lending his skin space to an innovative marketeer for a quick buck. Whether or not this would catch Indian eyeballs was going to be interesting to watch.
Another interesting way of catching the eye — used by a number of marketeers across the world — is revolving door advertising. During the release of the film Catch me if you can, starring Tam Hanks as the cop and Leonardo DiCaprio as the culprit, life-size pictures of the two were placed on different panels of revolving doors at Hong Kong. As the doors revolved you could experience the pursuit which was the core of the movie. Recently Close Up attempted a revolving door with Pass aaoo na, with the guy and the girl experiencing the Sabse taaji saanse, courtesy a close-up as they passed through a revolving door.
An innovation that might see novel uses is the use of sonic billboards. This was done for the first time in the ad campaign for a television show called Paranormal State by the A & E Network in the USA. The channel set up a six storey billboard. Two audio spotlights were set up behind the billboard and this created an extremely focused beam of sound. The sound is transmitted when the beam hits a compact surface, in this case your head. Thus you, like a schizophrenic, heard sounds like: “Who’s there?” or “What’s that?” which were created through this cone of sound directed towards you and which seemed to whisper in your head. Sounds interesting Ram G Varma and the Brothers Ramsay?
Compound this with revolutionary technological in-novations that happen almost every fortnight and the mind boggles at the intriguing possibilities. Lessons for the maestro marketeer as he picks up his harp to serenade his paramour — the consumer — Jo beet gayi so baat gayi. The lover is a little jaded so look at new ways of enticing her, she wants spice and variety in her life so whether you are going to tattoo your way into her heart or boggle her mind with sonic waves, she wants to be entranced anew. So create some new magic and surprise her.
Jiski jesi ruchi thi usne vesi dekhi madhu shala: the marketeer will no longer be able to hold the reins of his brand, Madhushala as the penewala will determine what he wants to see in his saki. Ab brand aur consumer aapas mein baat karenge, you will be the bystander Mr Marketeer!
Geet wahi gao jis me mitti ki khusbhu aaye: the consumer has discovered a fierce passion for his Bharti, so when all else fails the Hindustani dil never fails to proudly proclaim Sare jahan se accha — whether it is for the Nano or Amcha Sachin bhaiya. Jai ho! And at the end of the day the love saga of the marketeer Romeo and consumer Juliet can never go wrong … a new song, a new canvas but ek paraspar madhushala…
The writer is Professor, Marketing, International Management Institute, Delhi