Old phone stories!!

Why are we so attached to some products that we can't simply let them go? Even when we can afford to buy a better product.

Like my Nokia phone. It has been over 3 years now that I am using it. But I can't seem to want to throw it away for a better product. Perhaps it satisfies the basic need of the product. Perhaps it is only attachment. Perhaps it is the fear of the unknown( understanding new product features).

The phone has died many a deaths and I have written eulogies for it for some time. But it is in a good working condition. It has been a born again kind of phone which somehow surprises me everyday.

Should marketers address this particular segment of thrifty junkets like me who would save till death does them apart? Maybe. Maybe leave them alone. But you have a loyal Nokia customer. They should have a data of all such customers and keep pouring them to offer a replacement( conditions applied). Maybe they are not bothered because mobiles are selling in such abundance. They shall start thinking when sales start going down. But then it would be too late. Never forget the customer even when you are going up.

Maybe someone will gift me a new phone. Till then...me, myself and me NOKIA...

Wasteful advertising!

Why do luxury car advertisers love to waste their money? It seems one of the many things:
1) That they have huge budget to spend;
2) They don't have enough brains to think on creative ad spends;
3) They would be recovering the money from it's buyers;
4) They want to create a so called media hype for the product or
5) It is an advertising ritual that has been followed and now gets worshipped as a benchmark.

Whatever! I don't understand the sense of advertising in newspapers with a full page or double spread glossy colour ad. It might just make a good wall poster for a kid. But will it sell the car? I doubt. Some idiot who has made it in life to earn a crore of rupees to spend on a car is not naive enough to know where to look for the luxury car. And it isn't like there are zillions of options in that space where he can choose from. Nor would he be unfamiliar with it's features, brand or design.

The best advertising is always free and where the consumer is himself attached to the product for what it offers and means to him. It doesn't matter what the company spends on advertising. The product must have some connect with the consumer and solve his innate desire, offer a unique solution, be easy of use, stand out from the rest, make him feel great and somehow transform his whole life or part of it! Wow! Isn't that difficult! Maybe thats why advertisers think that they can just bombard their money and make the consumer like their product. But it doesn't work that way.

Like in love, as also in advertising, loving is enirely on in our hands. So keep trying till you get attention.

Old junk and nostalgia!

If you have old things in your closet that you have stored just for the heck of it then you are a nostalgic person. Most people have a streak of materialism inside of them. We like to collect things as we travel, shop to places and then there are some gifts that we like to treasure.

As we grow, we throw most of these items after a point of time. Those things fill up space and sometimes we aren't attached to them like we used to. But some of us do save this as some kind of memorabilia. We often keep old clothes of our younger days, toys, greeting cards from former gfs/bfs, shoes that won us a race, scrap or sticker books, games, cards, petals stored inside a book, gadgets.....the list is long.

The real thrill comes from when we go to our old cupboards or some lost corner of our house to clean that space or clear junk. And wow! You have it. You get hold of your treasure trove, pick old cartons and get lost. Yup! We do like to remember old time that were associated with that junk. As we recall events and stories with these items, we realise something. It isn't worth debunking the junk. So it goes back to it's old place to be found again some day later...and so on

Send gifts to India this Valentine's Day!!

I have recently started a gifitng portal called http://www.buygiftstoindia.com/. The portal hopes to cater to the growing demands of people who wish to send gifts to their loved ones based in India. Although the current focus is on NRI’s wanting to send gifts to their friends, relatives and loved ones in India, the company is also looking at the resident Indians to use the service to send gifts within India. The site has relationships with many vendors and gifts can be delivered in over 500 cities in record time. The site targets primarily people who send gifts during Diwali, Dassera, Christmas, Raksha-Bandhan, New Year, Valentine's Day, anniversaries and also occassions like weddings and birthdays.
Ensuring the growing demand of the Indian community, the site has an array of products like toys, cakes, perfumes, sarees, sweets, flowers, gourmet baskets, electronic products, candles, handicrafts, cosmetics, mens and womens apparels, leather products, etc.
Internet forms an unique opportunity for Indians staying abroad to send gifts to India. The early apprehensions in internet security transactions have been deftly taken care of by the site with it's robust security system. We have also selected the best products from various proficient vendors. Prompt delivery of products and the best quality is ensured by us.

A thing or two about Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day has so many times been usually misunderstood. Especially in India. There have been controversies over it and the situation usually starts boiling when major political parties even hear about Saint Valentine. Yes, he was a saint. And like many saints in India, he did what he did for a just cause. And I reckon, we respect saints.

There have been many instances where we have found reasons to hate each other. To hate, the reasons are plenty; to love-not one in twenty. We hate over religion, over caste, over colour, over language, over territory, over class,etc. We might find zillion more reasons to show our affection for hate. But then, hate becomes symbolic of our character. It can consume us totally. It only allows us to see the world as a bad place.

Maybe the Valentine's Day teaches us and reminds us that there is a day for love after all. So obnoxiously bad that we need a day to celebrate love. It should be a festival of life-to love people, to be loved by people. What else is so important than be truly consumed by the richness, the diversity and the incredible journey of love? Every living organism craves for love. That is also how our species survives, prospers and thrives. Money, status, fame are drivers for a superficial state of happiness; it is only through love that we reach a higher state of living.

Whenever people or the society have lost their faith in love, the civilisation has been dealt a severe blow. But why is love such a good thing and why am I emphatically harbouring it's merits? See, if we all hate and kill each other-nobody would remain on this earth. We would destroy and be destroyed. On the other hand, if we love each other-we would only be making this world a better place. Things like passion, intensity, crativity, innovation, etc are 'byproducts' of love. Because love allows us the strength to make the best of our existing resources.

So this Valentine's Day-share your love with your neighbours, relatives, parents, office colleagues, proffessors, teachers, children, people on the street......and possibly that special someone. Send Gifts to them, love them, shower them with presents, spend time with them. You wouldn't regret....I bet!!