Thursday, 30 July 2009

And so the Marathon begins...

I have registered for the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2010 and successfully begun training today.

I trained with my Jai Hind friend Mohit Saxena and we jogged close to 1.5 KM today and walked 1.5 KM. So on the first day, we have reached half the dream run :P

Hopefully I will be able to reach somewhere with this. I have to keep this up and convert this into a more complete and longer run. Also, have to take care of my diet to build up the stamina I will need from now on!

Too much to take care of while doing an MBA! Any suggestions and tips?

Posted via email from Aditya's Blog

Wednesday, 29 July 2009

Schumacher returns!

Yes, it is true!

The Champ is here! He is making a return to the world of F1 to fill the seat vacated by the gravely injured FM. He will drive for the Italian team at the European GP in Valencia on 23rd August. He said that he will be driving for 'team loyalty reasons' at this unfortunate time.

MS last drove an F1 car in April 2008 and with the ban on in-season testing, he will not do so till 21st August for the Friday practice session.

Let us see what the greatest F1 driver of all time can do to this season's championship. :)

Posted via web from Countdown to the Indian Grand Prix

Schumacher returns!

Yes, it is true!

The Champ is here! He is making a return to the world of F1 to fill the seat vacated by the gravely injured FM. He will drive for the Italian team at the European GP in Valencia on 23rd August. He said that he will be driving for 'team loyalty reasons' at this unfortunate time.

MS last drove an F1 car in April 2008 and with the ban on in-season testing, he will not do so till 21st August for the Friday practice session.

Let us see what the greatest F1 driver of all time can do to this season's championship. :)

Posted via email from Countdown to the Indian Grand Prix

Would you show a customer choosing another product in your ad?

I am sure about 90% of you would answer no to the above question. Even I would.

But the Bajaj XCD ad shown below, proves to be an exception to the rule and does it quite well. I like this extremely risky idea of showing a customer choosing a different product. The ad in point however, makes it a point to show that the customer who is choosing something else, does not deserve the Bajaj anyways. They show the person choosing an average home and an average woman, so it goes without saying that he deserves an average bike as well. However, the execution of this idea is brilliant. They show him recollecting the old XCD ad which is a glossy, slick, upmarket, young, pacy ad of a biker riding with a girl who just won a fight with her twin to sit on the bike (I do like the earlier ad also, but more on that later). He then goes for the cheaper bike, satisfied with his choice.

It is a brilliant idea to create a position in the mind of the customer and at the same time an extremely risky ploy at these times, especially from Bajaj, which is known to give cheaper and more value for money kind of bikes.

What say?

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

Tuesday, 28 July 2009

Multiple positioning of brand Dove

Dove has always been a brand that has been associated with something special. It signifies treating your skin to a better product which everyone cannot afford. Dove has always maintained this positioning strategy (which makes sense as Dove is more expensive than other soaps too and not everyone can afford it). However, recently after the launch of their range of other Dove products they have changed the positioning of the original Dove product.

The recent TV ads for Dove talks about the benefits of Dove and shows a girl in her early twenties as a user as against their usual use of an educated english speaking, working woman. This strategy has shifted now to the hair products. The new ads for their hair care range has women talking in english (one with an accent even) about how they have stopped hair fall by using the Dove products. So they are now saying, that Dove soaps are not really that aspirational any more. Even though it is the same product and costs the same amount if not more expensive, more people can afford it and it would be better to show the benefits for everyone rather than show 'very well to do accented english speaking middle aged women'. So, the product I guess has moved on to the next stage of the PLC.

BCG Matrix anyone?

Posted via email from Aditya's Blog