Selfie Obsession based Sales Strategy

While I teach Sales in classes, never in my wildest dreams had I thought that companies would move on from SPIN and FAB selling techniques to a “Selfie Opportunity” selling strategy. I read about it today and felt the need to do some research on how companies are enticing their TG, the Millennials, and the - loaded with cash - Generation Z into stores to shop.

Selfie: How did this become a verb / noun?

In 1839, Robert Cornelius was the first person ever to click his own self. Since photography was a slow process, he had enough time between when he uncovered the lens, ran into pic position and then ran back again to cover the lens. In 1914, Grand Duchess Anastasis Nikolaevna of Russia at the age of 13 was the first teenager ever to take her own picture using a mirror.

Oxford Dictionary defines Selfie as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media”. Its typically a term that got the status of an Oxford word in early 2000s and the title of “word of the year” in 2013.

Obsession with Selfie

Everyone is taking selfies now? And why is that? Many may call it fun, many however also call it a mental disorder. As someone said, “If Selfie were a pond, a large portion of the population would have already drowned!”

Obsession can be of varying degrees, with one extreme being the narcissistic level of a selfie a day, and the other extreme being losing weight and getting cosmetic surgeries done to look selfie perfect. This has led to an understanding amongst psychiatrists and marketers that there’s a huge connection between taking selfies and earning self-respect. People love to live in a world of illusion, and selfies help them reach the gates of that delusional world. While it’s a worrying trend, marketers have recently started using “Selfie Moments” for attracting people to shop, by creating selfie-friendly zones.

The story of Mall and Selfies

About a year ago, Rajneesh Mahajan, executive director of Inorbit Mall observed, the craze amongst mall visitors of clicking selfies with a Heart-shaped bonsai (Economic Times, dated 19^th Dec 2016). He realized that anything quirky attracts youngsters to click selfies at an innovative selfie spot. Most mall managers have gone ahead and set up such selfie spots, which are innovative and draw audience to the mall for a click. I noticed one such spot in Ambience Mall on the 4^th floor where a huge dinosaur has been placed, and people are busy clicking selfies with that grotesque creature.

Will this lead to an increase in footfalls in malls and inside stores? A question store managers are not even hazarding an answer to! According to selfies posted on Instagram and Facebook, Select CityWalk in New Delhi is one of the most “Checked-in” places online. Yet brands are unsure of the upswings of such a trend.

Well neither are we. And as many say, Selfies is a fad that may soon outlast it’s day under the sun.

By:

Monica Mor,

Sr. Faculty, INLEAD

‘The Ray of Hope’ turns 70

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is celebrating its 70 years of presence around the world, this week. UNICEF was created by the United Nations General Assembly on 11 December 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II. Since its founding, the organization has been instrumental in improving children’s lives across 190 countries of the world. 

Living by its motto – “For every child, a fair chance”, UNICEF promotes the rights and well-being of every child, in everything they do. Together with their partners, it operates in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.

In all of its work, taking a life cycle based approach; UNICEF recognizes the importance of early childhood development and adolescence. Its programmes focus on the most underprivileged children, including those living in fragile circumstances, those with disabilities, those who are affected by rapid urbanization and those affected by environmental degradation. UNICEF was created with a distinct purpose in mind: to work to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination placed in a child’s path. 

While natural disasters, armed conflict and the silent emergency of famine and disease continue to affect children worldwide – particularly those already burdened by poverty and disadvantage, since its founding, UNICEF has never stopped responding to such crises. By breaking down the barriers between urgent humanitarian action and sustainable development work, UNICEF’s aim is to strengthen systems that provide critical services to children and families before, during and long after the onset of crises. With this support, communities can be better prepared for emergencies and more resilient when disasters strike.

In 2014 alone, UNICEF responded to 300 emergency situations in 98 countries. Among them were three major humanitarian crises in different parts of the world: In Southeast Asia, Typhoon Haiyan put millions of children at risk of waterborne diseases and other threats; in West Africa, the Ebola crisis took a heavy toll and prevented 5 million children from attending school; and in the Syrian Arab Republic, a brutal conflict broke out, forcing families into flight in a harrowing pattern that continues today. 

The following infographic explains the success story of UNICEF from 1946-2016 (source: www.unicef.org):

By:

Mr. Sumit Chakravarty,

Faculty, INLEAD

IoT- Revolutionizing Indian Healthcare

Imagine a scenario where your wearable healthcare device detects an asynchronous heart beat which is immediately signalled as an alarming sign to your physician who in further with EICU immediately starts with preventive measures. It results in a life being saved with minimal time loss. This is what IoT and its importance is. 

‘Internet of Things’ means that consumers now have the power to take control of their own health in a highly personalized manner.

Everyone loves the Internet. In today’s scenario, we are more digitally connected than physically connected. World is getting smaller day by day and healthcare has changed in a big way from hospital care to physician’s care to care of patient at home.It has become more customer centric. As familiar surroundings has a positive outcome and facilitate healing of the person,more of the hospitals are providing the domiciliary care to the patients. IoT focusses on streamlining of healthcare delivery with better outcomes and increased efficiency which further help in making healthcare more affordable. It is the network of physical objects that are connected to the internet allowing them to send, receive and exchange data.

Internet of Things can help in equipping medics with cloud-based tools that allow them to ‘consult’ with patients who aren’t even in the same room, or even the same city.

Indian Healthcare though have progressed a lot since last decade but still we are lagging behind. As its said that health of country is measured by the health status of citizens, India with GDP of 4 percent still is lagging behind BRIC nations. Additional requirement of 1.8 million beds and 1.54 million doctors is still an understatement. Health for all which talks about universal access to all the citizens is still a promise which is getting difficult to be fulfilled and achieved. IoT can be an answer to capture real time information, collate it, analyse it and then share it with the stakeholders to create a connected environment.

India has a huge potential though to overcome all these challenges. IoT have a huge impact on Chronic disease management,Remote Clinical Monitoring and Assisted living. As healthcare focus is changing more from curative to preventive and promotive aspect, IoT with the help of wearable technology can be an answer for providing the same.

IoT can help India achieve a paradigm shift and revolutionize Indian Healthcare. Consumers, patients and those working in medical professions will all need to alter their mindsets to take full advantage of this revolution in healthcare and be provided with innovative methods to motivate a change in behavior. And so, it will be the companies who are able to offer cutting-edge, highly personalized solutions – that are both meaningful and trustworthy – who will become our new health mentors.

So, welcome to the next era of connectivity in Healthcare. 

By:

Mr. Anurag Bora

Student, INLEAD

The Flip by FlipKart & the Outburst by OLA

Do foreign companies not have the best interest for India and Indians? Should we look towards China for their style of economic growth?

Should we go back to the days of Protectionism? Do we really need support from government to do well or are we capable enough to handle all conflicts and volatility?

In India, while our constitution speaks of becoming a “Socialist” economy, it’s been a while we have been capitalistic in our approach towards business. The first step in this direction was when our Industrial Policy was revamped in 1985, followed by the LPG in 1991. Two and a half decades of working towards liberalizing and globalizing the economy, can it be unraveled by the demands of certain insecure home-grown organisations? I doubt it. And where has it been written or ever been observed that a company that’s protected performs the best? If that were the case, India would have become the best agricultural producer in the world and those working in our agrarian sector would have become the richest.

So what left Sachin and Bhavesh flustered?

Bhavish Agarwal, CEO and Founder, OLA Cabs and Sachin Bansal, Founder and CEO, Flipkart, came together at a recent Carnegie India Global technology Summit to make a nationalistic appeal and urged the Indian Government to design policies which will favour homegrown companies.

In the words of Ola Founder, “What’s happening in both our industries (is that) there is a narrative of innovation that non-Indian companies espouse but the real fight is on capital, not innovation. The markets are being distorted by capital”; 

In the words of Flipkart Founder, “What we need to do is what China did (15 years ago) and tell the world we need your capital, but we don’t need your companies”.

OLA and Flipkart are the harbingers of new generation business, which has propelled the FDI inflow in India, most of which is in the e-commerce industry. The two companies have been growing on the basis of funds that have been pumped in by many multinational funding agencies and venture capitalists. Their business model has failed to bring in profits for their respective investors. Ola posted a loss of Rs 418.25 crore on a net revenue of 754.87 crore for 2014-15. Flipkart posted a loss of Rs 1,932 crore on an estimated net revenue of 1,200 crore for the same period.

VCs have started questioning the business model and stability of these companies. Frankly, the two companies are facing severe problems in logging faster growth rates because of the presence of Amazon and Uber. Traditional businesses often with a gestation period of 3 to 5 years are able to turnaround their business with profits and an IPO plan. Unfortunately these two companies are still unable to strengthen their foothold in their respective businesses. That has left them gasping for breath and crying out for protection. I think they know they will fail if they do not push the envelope! Predatory pricing has never really helped any company win the battle, and these two will have to come up with a better strategy.

Let’s hope that they pull up their socks and, just for the fact that they are Indian companies, they will be able to turnaround their business and chart a historic win atleast in India. They need to learn from a Patanjali which is beating MNCs in India hollow!

By: 

Ms. Monica Mor,

Sr. Faculty, INLEAD

La Liga Special Event Participation

La Liga the eponymous Spanish Football League, has set its base in India in New Delhi. They hosted their first Live Screening of Real Madrid vs Barcelona clubs in JLN Stadium. The event was marked by presence of huge screens, fan engagements, food and beverage stalls on the evening of 3^rd December, 2016. The event was managed by DNA Networks, and our students were invited to be volunteers at their various stalls.

“Students got an amazing experience of crowd management, brand activation & artist management. They even got to work at the ticketing counter, which quite a challenging work," said Ms. Sakshi Vig, Faculty, INLEAD. 

At the venue there was a huge set- up of stage, activity area, VVIP zone, ticketing centre, food stalls and many more. DNA team people picked randomly from amongst the students & assigned them different duties around 12:00 PM. Some were sent to manage the electricity set up, some for masking and some to manage the food court, the VVIP zone and Logistics. Students while volunteering got to learn some new technical terminologies like Masking, Mojo ,Knop etc Those incharge of food court were busy setting up food stalls, others got to do ticketing at the cash counter and some were working on the stage.

One of the students was made in charge of the store room in the stadium and was asked to work on the logistics of thousands of glasses and other stuff, from store to venue. A  team of 20 volunteers was assigned to him for this extremely critical task. It was around 6:30 PM when Viewers started to enter the stadium and that’s when majority of INLEADers got to work, maximum on the cash counter and the coupon counter where it was rather challenging to handle thousands of people. 

The event ended around 10:30 PM and post which there was tallying done, cash was counted, venue cleaned and a very long day came to a closure. La Liga brought the big screen viewing of an El Classico match to India in a big way, and INLEADERs got the opportunity to be a part of it.

INNOVATIVE REWARD INITIATIVE – The Fulcrum Awards 2016

What is Fulcrum Awards 2016?

Fulcrum Awards 2016 is an initiative by Deepak Choudhary, Founder and Director, Event Capital. It was founded with a motive to acknowledge and honor the work of Individuals and teams churning out Award winning campaigns and forms a strong basis and acts as a strong back for the professional community.

It is an innovative way of awarding excellence in the public relations fraternity in India. Overwhelming and Proud Founder Deepak Choudhary, said, “It is a great privilege to organise the inaugural edition of Fulcrum Awards, where we have recognised excellence in the ever growing Public Relations business in the country. It is heartening to see a great response from the professionals to be a part of the Awards from year one itself. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners and give my best wishes to those who entered the awards this year. I, along with Ben Smith from PR Moment India, look forward to hosting all communication professionals at the Fulcrum Awards 2017, which will be hosted at Praxis 2017.”

This is the first year of Fulcrum Awards, It got approx. 400 entries from over 70 Organisations. On 24^th  September a gala Evening at Aamby Valley was held at Lonavla to announce the Winners. Winners were from across different organisations like Fevicol brand owner, Pidilite Industries for bringing dignity into the lives of carpentars, and FlipKart for its Big Billion day 2015 campaign.

The jury comprised of 17 esteemed communication Leaders, chaired by Sunil Gautam and Founder, Pitchfork Partners.

Major Categories are:

The Fulcrum Awards 2016 is an effort to recognise and applaud individuals and teams who work on award winning campaigns and are the backbone of the professional community. The first year kicks off with 38 categories divided under four sub heads with an objective to recognise both individuals and team contribution. 

The categories are:

Technique Awards: There are 12 sub categories under the technique awards that will be judged for outstanding campaigns

Consultancy Professional Awards: There are 10 individual categories that will honour professionals from PR consultancies

In-house professional: There are 10 individual categories that acknowledge the stars from corporate communication world

Special awards: These will honour five outstanding entities.  An Initiative to honour  men and women who are pivotal to a campaign and are the backbone of the professional community. The Awards system aim  to create a sense of pride among all those who submit entries.

The Public Relations Consultant Association of India (PRCAI) and Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) are the Association partners for The Fulcrum Awards. Ben Smith, Managing Director, PRmoment.com added, “The Indian PR community has shown the world that it has the intelligence and the skills to help brands communicate more effectively!”

The Fulcrum Awards nights received a huge participation of 500 professionals from the communication business, themed on honoring excellence in the profession. The Fulcrum Awards kicked off at Praxis 2016 with the announcement of The Lifetime Achievement Award, which was bestowed upon Irfan Khan, a veteran Public Relations professional. Over 30 other organizations were honored including wordswork, Avian Media, Adfactors, Value 360 Communications and more.

Such awards serve as huge motivators to companies & the ideators whose blood, toil & sweat, does get recognised. We are now eagerly awaiting Fulcrum 2017.

By:

Ms. Sakshi Vig
Faculty, INLEAD

Holistic Life Skills by Mr. Mehernosh Bazyn Dittia

A recently organised workshop on Holistic Life Skills by Mr. Mehernosh Bazyn Dittia, Founder & Director, Lighthouse Training, proved to be quite enlightening for the students. They were encouraged to introspect and mull about the bygones and understand the importance of non materialistic things. Students went through a cathartic experience and were able to appreciate life as it was and what it would be without the shades of grey. 

The session was highly appreciated by students who often struggle with multiple complexities that can lay them waste and leave them depressed. They were able to find happiness in little drops of joy.

Mr. Dittia encouraged everyone in the audience to look back into their lives and seek answers to everything that was bothering them. This encouraged all to see life from a new perspective. He spoke about the circle of life which consists of Circle of Concern & Circle of Influence. He narrated a Japanese story of Student and Master. He emphasized that no individual got what he deserved before time and life gives all what they deserve and not always what they desire.

Moral- Success invites arrogance and attitude, if not handled properly we will lose it. He encouraged all to be successful & vigilant, to explore their passions and interest, and to lead a life with feelings of satisfaction & achievements and devoid of arrogance. He also spoke about keeping a focused approach that needs to be adopted while selection of degree, job or friends. At the end, he summarized the steps for stress and time management as follows:

• Spend time in planning and organizing
• Set goals
• Prioritize
• Use a to do list
• Be flexible
• Convert your biological prime time
• Do the right thing right.
• Practice the art to intelligent ignorance
• Avoiding to be a perfectionist.
• Conquer procrastination.
• Learn to say No.
• Reward yourself.

Students felt extremely rejuvenated and refreshed after this session.

Happy Feet – Go on...Love your Walk!

I happened to be in Cyber Hub on a balmy Saturday afternoon, sipping a hot cuppa Starbucks’ cappuccino. One of those lovely moments when you wish time would stand still, when you could just look at the people walking by as if they are doing the catwalk performance for you; when you feel you have the right to observe all that’s around you and pass your irrefutable judgements. It was that Saturday when I couldn’t help but notice the many types of walks amongst the people walking by. By many types I am trying to imply that each individual has his or her own way of walking. 

Some walk with a swing, a spring in their steps. It seems like they are on a mission to save the world; like they need to be somewhere soon, and that soon has to be quite immediate; if you know what I mean! I love this category of people. 

Then there are those who have all the time in the world, they have a lazy walk, they walk like they have been walking all their life; slouched shoulders, hunch in their back and a glazed look in their eyes. Those are of course the type of walkers who don’t walk, they stroll. They believe that the world is on a display for them and that they are the designated nymphs from heaven above, who need to look around and nod their acceptance or smirk their condescension. This  category looks like they are bored with their lives and are using the walk as fillers in life, like we use uhs and ums as fillers when we speak. You need to actually ask them to excuse you while you walk.

I believe when you walk, it speaks volumes about you, about the aura that you carry with you and the personality that is uniquely yours. A walk defines you and sums up the energy that you possess. A drag–your-feet walk shows your nonchalant attitude and a peculiar disinterest in the person who’s walking with you. A swift walk shows the zest that you possess for living and the passion that you exude in all that you do. Dainty steps are elegant but time consuming. Thumping steps look sloppy and are of course noisy. A jogger, a sportsperson has a walk that’s very different from someone who avoids exercising. 

It’s all about the energy, about the zeal to live and the happiness that envelopes you when you do anything. If you check the world wide web, it will tell you there are 25 ways of walking and that the word “walk” originates from an old English word “wealcan”, which means to roll. But that your walk defines you is indisputable, so straighten up and walk like you can take the world in your stride.

Remember even “Happy Feet” won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

By:

Ms. Monica Mor

Sr. Faculty, INLEAD