Every parent is anxious about two important milestones for their children. When the child will start walking and when the child will start speaking. Usually, if the children are asked to describe about their parents the things they mention are “My father taught me to walk and my mom taught me to talk”. These two milestones are indeed very important for all children and parents alike.
Usual conversation of parents who have children of about age 1 starts with a simple open ended but highly evolved question “What all does your child do?” and then the enthusiastic parents get into an evolved discussions and descriptions about what and how the child does it. The discussions go into whether the child puts the left foot up first or the right one. Whether he pushes himself up by stretching leg or pulling their hand or how many steps can he take without sitting down once…
The parents whose child has not started walking yet get paranoid. Then all sorts of theories crop up. One of the most popular theories is girls are faster than guys hence girls start walking earlier than guys of similar age. (An empirical evidence of children around me suggest that there are no contradictions to this theory but I have a great suspicion that this theory is propagated by all the mothers to sow the seeds that the fairer sex is far superior to the unfair sex! ) Once the parents who have a son, hear this then they get even more tense. Almost all the parents I know of refer to babycenter. That I must say is a hell of child of progress tracker. It almost feels like they have some hidden camera in the house and someone is watching what your child is doing and sending to you as a mail. But even babycenter does not come to your rescue if your child refuses to walk. Parents get all sorts of toys, walkers and encourage the child to walk. They keep the children’s favorite toys on the table so that he has to necessarily walk to get them. But children are a smarter race. Soon they figure out that they can crawl upto the table stand up get the toy and crawl back. The child just does not see logic in using just 2 legs when the same thing can be accomplished much faster by using 2 hands and 2 legs. So they defy all the attempts made by their parents to make them walk. This impasse continues till one day, the child thinks to himself…hey, I am not a baby anymore, let me walk now…and starts walking.
The same thing happens to parents if their child does not speak. Actually that drives parents even crazier. The most paranoid lot visits the doctors for hearing test. I really wonder why these parents start from worst possible assumption. Also, there is this implicit assumption that the doctor will know about child better than us. But still they do it. Again from my limited, empirical sample I found that children who have a very regimented schedule start speaking much later. Children are far smarter than we think; they get everything they want without speaking, so why speak? The children with elder brother or sister learn to speak much faster. They have a sense of competition ever since they are born. Talking themselves out is probably a necessity in overcoming the competition. I can’t figure out exactly but there is a strong correlation between time spent with grandparents and ability to speak or vocabulary. (No No I am not suggesting grandparents talk a lot) I have seen some children who have started speaking as late as year III and I have seen how their parents were paranoid about that.
What these parents don’t get is: Walking and Talking are the biggest bargaining tools that children posses. Children are much easier to deal with and manage when they cannot speak or walk. Their individuality (which some skeptical parents describe as “true colors”) come to forefront when they start walking and talking. Once they start walking you realize that the children had always wanted to go in a direction different than yours and they were unable to do so because they were in the pram. A more persuasive child would pull you in that direction while an evasive child would just start walking towards the other direction and expect you to follow. The parents would realize the all the one-sided consensus based relationship they were enjoying so far was on a thin ice. Child always had a different opinion, it’s just that he or she did not have enough skills to express it.
A great side effect of this phenomenon can be seen on the physique of the parents. Parents suddenly start getting in shape. The physical demands of parenthood are such that you might have to take off in an unspecified direction with split second notice just to ensure the child is in the line of the sight. The parents need to adjust their center of gravity in order not to lose control in such a demanding situation. They also need to work on their maneuvering skills by sharpening their ability to take sharp turns. I have always noticed that the stress levels in parents shoot up when the child stands on his feet, literally.
The situation gets worse when child starts speaking. Things are much easier to manage when the child is just blabbering. Human mind is designed for wishful thinking. So parents tend to interpret the seemingly meaningless blabbering in the way that is convenient to them. A blabbering child is the child of their dreams that always seem to agree with them or say things that they wanted to hear. The scene completely changes when the child starts speaking. All “yes” becomes “No” and vice versa.
I realized this when I was confronted my child when I least expected it. I used to tickle my child in a certain way, he would laugh a lot and make a lot of blabbering sound which I used to interpret as “I want more, Papa don’t stop”. I could also see certain excitement in his eyes and go on and on and my child would laugh his heart out. The fact of the matter was I used to enjoy that game perhaps more than him. When I tried the same game he could speak I was in for a shock. My child told me “Papa, don’t do it. I don’t like it” My interpretation of his blabbering and reading of eyes was all in vein, the reality was completely different.
A Speaking child is very powerful. He is able to communicate his likes-dislikes and stop his parents from doing unwanted things just by saying a few words. All parents have this innermost desire to be better parents than their own parents. No matter how well they were raised, they always remember the mistakes that their parents did and vow to themselves not to repeat them for their own children. (My empirical evidence suggests that most of the parents are successful in avoiding mistakes that their parents did but land up making newer mistakes which their children must correct in the due course. ) All parents want to be fair to their children and don’t want force them to do anything that is they don’t want to. They are happy with their performance as their parents and are secretly patting their backs till the child opens his mouth and starts speaking. First signs of cracks in their parenting start appearing when the child starts speaking.
My biggest learning from the parenthood is each parent must learn to enjoy, savor, relish, appreciate, take pleasure in, value and be delighted with the period of time when the child is not talking or walking. Every parenting book, website, doctors mentions that each child is unique. Still we parents try to compare them and make them fit into the same imaginary mould that is either designed by conventional wisdom or some child progress benchmarks or babycenter.com. We forget the joy of parenting. We are pushing our little ones into the competition zone mercilessly even they can barely walk or speak.
Fellow parents, that is the most enjoyable part of the parenthood. Go ahead and convince yourself that the child wanted to go exactly in the same direction as you turned the pram. If the child is not speaking or walking when the babycenter expects it, don’t worry. One day nature would take over and things will be alright. Till then don’t have doubt whatsoever in interpreting the blabbering in the way you want. Because, once the child starts speaking and walking things are just going to go downhill.
Enjoy Parenting!!
Monday, December 6, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Learnings from Parenthood II
Part II (end of 1 month)
- Babies don't negotiate. (No. Don't try it again)
- Almost anything can be achieved if one can cry loudly enough
- Changing diaper is a process not an event. You think you have cleaned up the mess but you have merely laid clean platform for next mess to be deposited
- Volume of crying is directly proportional to bargaining power
Learnings of Parenthood I
Part I (end of 1 week)
- Babies are not fair. They take some actions and blame you for the results. (just like our clients)
- Problem identification is always a trial and error affair where errors > trials
- The joy from addressing the root cause to put a crying baby to sleep > joy of closing $1 million deal
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Indian Auto Story:MILES TO GO BEFORE IT SLOWS!
(Published in Top of Mind, Nov 2010)
When TOP OF MIND called me to figure out if the current growth rates of the Indian car industry were sustainable, I responded with an emphatic ‘YES’! India has just started stretching its legs! The official Frost & Sullivan estimate for the growth of the passenger car market in India is 18 percent (CAGR). And these estimates are not founded in optimism, but grounded in reality.
The Indian car market is really in a state of infancy. The penetration is so low in comparison to not just developed markets, but even those in comparable stages of evolution. The number of cars per thousand, in India, is between 12 and 13. In a market like Thailand, this number stands at 25 to 30. In markets like Malaysia, there are 250 cars per thousand people. In developed countries like the US and Australia, the figure stands at a whopping 500!
Affordability of various customer groups in India is improving. As more Indians become more affluent, the number of cars will go up. We may not have a car for every two people immediately, but the number cannot remain at 12 or 13 per thousand. So if one is wondering if the high sales figures we’re seeing in the market now represent a peak that will start waning, they couldn’t be more wrong. It is a intermediate peak, from where the number of cars sold will go up further steadily.
Various markets across the world follow a typical curve for growth of automotive markets. The graphs below indicate Penetration of car per thousand Vs per capita GDP on PPP basis. The curve indicates the path the market is likely to follow as the per capita GDP increases.
The biggest hurdle to this trend would be lack of infrastructure development. It is not keeping in pace with the market growth rates. (may be you can elaborate on that)
New Markets
So where is this new market coming from? Is it from the second or third car for the house being bought? Is it the bike user graduating to buying a car? Or is it a new segment that never thought about a car ever, but is suddenly waking up to the idea of owning a four wheeler?
It’s actually a bit of everything. In India, there is a new segment emerging at every layer of the pyramid, climbing one step upwards on the consumption front. So there’s a new segment fuelling demand for cars, there’s one driving growth of two wheelers, and one driving sales of bicycles! Take the Tata Nano for example. In some cases, it has become the fourth car in the household. In others, it’s the first car for those who aspired to buy one. And then there are others, who never thought of buying a car, who own one today. Take, for instance, the case of a 65 year-old gentleman, who hadn’t thought of buying a car, never felt the need for it. Suddenly, there’s something that lures him in terms of affordability, he finds that the vehicle is easy to handle, and he buys in for the convenience of a car at his disposal.
And it is not that the car market is growing at the cost of two wheelers. There’s growth all around. If there’s a new market for cars, the same is true for two wheelers too.
Role of Marketing
If one contends that the demand we’re seeing is a function of incentives and promotions and marketing campaigns, I beg to differ. Marketing has some role to play in the growth of an industry, but it cannot create demand per se. The fundamental economic factors need to be in order. And they are very much in order in the Indian market.
Marketing cannot invent customers. But, with a great product and marketing campaign, what you can you can do is pre-pone the purchase. Someone looking to buy two months later will buy today, if incentivised enough. There is a notion that some of the discounts and promotions create demand - that is not true. The purchase happens earlier, and when you withdraw the offer, the sales figures drop.
The More the Merrier
The Indian customer is finally getting to pick and choose from the best there is in the world, besides the home grown auto majors like Maruti (Suzuki), Tatas or M&M. The number of players today reflects an integration the Indian auto industry with global markets. All the players who are present in other markets have entered the fray, and it is exciting times for car buyers. They are being spoilt for choice the same way their counterparts in other markets have been for some time now! It’s about time too.
In mature markets, the top three players will have, at best, 30 to 35 percent of the market. In India, Maruti, Hyundai and Tata Motors have, between them, 70 percent of the car market! This is unique to the Indian market and it also reflects the potential that exists to grow with the market. I would dare say that the number of players in India hasn’t hit the ceiling yet!
But it won’t be cake walk for the new entrants. In China, they’ve figured things out. With everything from sourcing to distribution in place, the task now in China is one of execution. In India, new entrants will be finding their feet in terms of sourcing, production, positioning, distribution and after sales, among other things. The established and entrenched players enjoy the advantage of having figured things out earlier.
Rising Prices? No Big Deal!
Rising prices in the auto industry is a function of rising input costs. And at most times, the price change would be a collective decision by the industry, because the rise in input cost affects everyone. Also, the price rise is typically never more than 2 to 5 percent. So when the price rises from say, Rs. 3,00,000 to Rs. 3,15,000, the impact is minimal. Yes, there will be an impact, but it will be a short term impact. One has to look at it relatively: If both Maruti’s and Hyundai’s prices have risen by Rs. 15,000, and I have already decided to buy one of the two cars, I am not going to stop from buying because of the price hike.
What will affect demand are things like a huge hike in the Excise Duty, for example, by the government. If the duty goes up from 8 percent to 16 percent, then we have a problem. Minor changes in pricing will not result in more than seasonal fluctuations.
Seasonality of Purchases
This exists across markets: there are times when it is considered auspicious to buy a car, and there are periods when people avoid making any kind of purchases! Indians would be only too familiar with the entire concept of ‘auspicious day’ to buy something. What’s interesting, is that even in Singapore, we have a month called the ‘Hungry Ghost Month’, when people avoid purchases altogether!
So how should marketers and auto companies handle such beliefs? You can’t, obviously, wish them away! What marketers need to do is account for these seasonal fluctuations. If there is a community that believes in not buying a car in a certain period, can we look at other segments that do not share the beliefs of that community? There is a need to adjust not just production, but also promotion, according to the pulse of the market and such seasonal variations. Segments that do not follow that belief of ‘Don’t Buy period’ can be incentivised during this period.
A Customer at Every Price Point
This is one of the things that makes the Indian market unique - within the same segment, the market leader, Maruti, has a multitude of offerings. In effect, there is a car which is Rs. 50,000 or Rs. 75,000 more than the next model from the same stable. A car buyer can choose from an Alto, WagonR or A-Star, going up to the Swift, if compact is what he is looking for. While this can at times confuse the consumer, it gives the company a presence at every possible price point, with variants to boot. In other markets, the models are not priced so close to each other, but variants would.
This is something that has worked wonderfully for the car maker in India. It is also reflective of the Indian market, where there is a customer available at every price point! Having a range of products within a segment helps make the brand stronger, because you can address various customer segments within a particular range. There’s virtually no gap in the portfolio of Maruti in India.
In terms of the overall number of models available, across players, it is bound to go up further. In comparison with the US, Australia or even Malaysia, Indians still have fewer models to choose from. As the market progresses, the number of models will go up too.
‘Indians are Value Conscious’. Who Isn’t?
Across the world, customers seek value, and this is true of automobiles too. There are many countries where Value-For-Money (VFM) is the most important criteria affecting choice of car. We have an award at Frost & Sullivan called the VFM Awards, in several markets like Malaysia and Singapore. In the Malaysian market, there is a company called Peruguva VIVA that has come out as the top rated company consistently. In Malaysia, the affordability is pretty high, but consumers still seek VFM.
In the US market, the fastest growing cars last year were Hyundai and Kia. These represent VFM. They were growing at 10 to 12 percent when the rest of the auto companies were registering a drop in sales.
Made in India. Sold The World Over.
The domestic sales of cars in India are higher than its exports, and that is because the domestic demand is so high. That is not likely to change because the domestic demand is not going to dry up soon. However, there is huge potential for India to emerge as a small car hub - that export potential is real and is being reflected by developments already.
The export potential is determined by the kind of product you have competency in. Across industries, and especially in manufacturing, it is about having the competency across an entire supply chain. Thailand, for example, ha the entire supply chain for manufacture of pick-up trucks. It has hence become the production hub in the region for pick-up trucks.
India has developed that potential for small cars and foreign companies are paying attention to this aspect too. On the exports front, export-focused models are being manufactured in India, whether it’s the Hyundai Santro or the Maruti Suzuki A-Star. Very few countries have the competency to be a small car hub. We will see foreign players enter India not just with an eye on the market, but also with strategic intent like production of certain types of engines. The vendor community that services the auto industry stands to benefit, even as exports from the region will benefit the nation.
The Top of the Pyramid
The top end of the market, which is addressed by players like Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Lexus, is still largely untapped. Luxury or premium cars, as a percentage of cars sold worldwide, is hardly 3 to 5 percent. Manufacturers catering to this segment are sensing this opportunity. For these companies, the absolute volumes that India’s upper crust and upwardly mobile represent is exciting, even if it is not so large as a percentage of the population.
What is the motive to buy luxury cars? The motives are the same as the ones that give customers the propensity to indulge in other premium and luxury goods, coupled with the ability to buy. So as a category, and as a paradigm, luxury is something that is bound to grow in India. It is only natural that luxury cars will grow with the trend.
Road Ahead
From the products perspective, India is unique in terms of the number of small and medium-sized cars of the total cars sold. There is an obvious skew towards small and medium-sized cars, possibly because of the large middle class belly that exists and the narrow roads in our country. In that sense, the Indian car market is charting its own course.
Things are looking good for the Indian car companies. The total demand in a market is defined by what we call the Gompertz Curve, which evaluates penetration of cars against disposable incomes. The Indian market is pretty much following this curve and is expected to in the future as well.
This indicator of future demand has been quite accurate in other global markets as well. So, there’s enough reason to cheer the market on, as more and more people get behind their new set of wheels. Common sense tells us that the need for mobility is so high, that people will need to commute, and when they can afford it, would like to do so in the air-conditioned comfort of their cars.
When TOP OF MIND called me to figure out if the current growth rates of the Indian car industry were sustainable, I responded with an emphatic ‘YES’! India has just started stretching its legs! The official Frost & Sullivan estimate for the growth of the passenger car market in India is 18 percent (CAGR). And these estimates are not founded in optimism, but grounded in reality.
The Indian car market is really in a state of infancy. The penetration is so low in comparison to not just developed markets, but even those in comparable stages of evolution. The number of cars per thousand, in India, is between 12 and 13. In a market like Thailand, this number stands at 25 to 30. In markets like Malaysia, there are 250 cars per thousand people. In developed countries like the US and Australia, the figure stands at a whopping 500!
Affordability of various customer groups in India is improving. As more Indians become more affluent, the number of cars will go up. We may not have a car for every two people immediately, but the number cannot remain at 12 or 13 per thousand. So if one is wondering if the high sales figures we’re seeing in the market now represent a peak that will start waning, they couldn’t be more wrong. It is a intermediate peak, from where the number of cars sold will go up further steadily.
Various markets across the world follow a typical curve for growth of automotive markets. The graphs below indicate Penetration of car per thousand Vs per capita GDP on PPP basis. The curve indicates the path the market is likely to follow as the per capita GDP increases.
The biggest hurdle to this trend would be lack of infrastructure development. It is not keeping in pace with the market growth rates. (may be you can elaborate on that)
New Markets
So where is this new market coming from? Is it from the second or third car for the house being bought? Is it the bike user graduating to buying a car? Or is it a new segment that never thought about a car ever, but is suddenly waking up to the idea of owning a four wheeler?
It’s actually a bit of everything. In India, there is a new segment emerging at every layer of the pyramid, climbing one step upwards on the consumption front. So there’s a new segment fuelling demand for cars, there’s one driving growth of two wheelers, and one driving sales of bicycles! Take the Tata Nano for example. In some cases, it has become the fourth car in the household. In others, it’s the first car for those who aspired to buy one. And then there are others, who never thought of buying a car, who own one today. Take, for instance, the case of a 65 year-old gentleman, who hadn’t thought of buying a car, never felt the need for it. Suddenly, there’s something that lures him in terms of affordability, he finds that the vehicle is easy to handle, and he buys in for the convenience of a car at his disposal.
And it is not that the car market is growing at the cost of two wheelers. There’s growth all around. If there’s a new market for cars, the same is true for two wheelers too.
Role of Marketing
If one contends that the demand we’re seeing is a function of incentives and promotions and marketing campaigns, I beg to differ. Marketing has some role to play in the growth of an industry, but it cannot create demand per se. The fundamental economic factors need to be in order. And they are very much in order in the Indian market.
Marketing cannot invent customers. But, with a great product and marketing campaign, what you can you can do is pre-pone the purchase. Someone looking to buy two months later will buy today, if incentivised enough. There is a notion that some of the discounts and promotions create demand - that is not true. The purchase happens earlier, and when you withdraw the offer, the sales figures drop.
The More the Merrier
The Indian customer is finally getting to pick and choose from the best there is in the world, besides the home grown auto majors like Maruti (Suzuki), Tatas or M&M. The number of players today reflects an integration the Indian auto industry with global markets. All the players who are present in other markets have entered the fray, and it is exciting times for car buyers. They are being spoilt for choice the same way their counterparts in other markets have been for some time now! It’s about time too.
In mature markets, the top three players will have, at best, 30 to 35 percent of the market. In India, Maruti, Hyundai and Tata Motors have, between them, 70 percent of the car market! This is unique to the Indian market and it also reflects the potential that exists to grow with the market. I would dare say that the number of players in India hasn’t hit the ceiling yet!
But it won’t be cake walk for the new entrants. In China, they’ve figured things out. With everything from sourcing to distribution in place, the task now in China is one of execution. In India, new entrants will be finding their feet in terms of sourcing, production, positioning, distribution and after sales, among other things. The established and entrenched players enjoy the advantage of having figured things out earlier.
Rising Prices? No Big Deal!
Rising prices in the auto industry is a function of rising input costs. And at most times, the price change would be a collective decision by the industry, because the rise in input cost affects everyone. Also, the price rise is typically never more than 2 to 5 percent. So when the price rises from say, Rs. 3,00,000 to Rs. 3,15,000, the impact is minimal. Yes, there will be an impact, but it will be a short term impact. One has to look at it relatively: If both Maruti’s and Hyundai’s prices have risen by Rs. 15,000, and I have already decided to buy one of the two cars, I am not going to stop from buying because of the price hike.
What will affect demand are things like a huge hike in the Excise Duty, for example, by the government. If the duty goes up from 8 percent to 16 percent, then we have a problem. Minor changes in pricing will not result in more than seasonal fluctuations.
Seasonality of Purchases
This exists across markets: there are times when it is considered auspicious to buy a car, and there are periods when people avoid making any kind of purchases! Indians would be only too familiar with the entire concept of ‘auspicious day’ to buy something. What’s interesting, is that even in Singapore, we have a month called the ‘Hungry Ghost Month’, when people avoid purchases altogether!
So how should marketers and auto companies handle such beliefs? You can’t, obviously, wish them away! What marketers need to do is account for these seasonal fluctuations. If there is a community that believes in not buying a car in a certain period, can we look at other segments that do not share the beliefs of that community? There is a need to adjust not just production, but also promotion, according to the pulse of the market and such seasonal variations. Segments that do not follow that belief of ‘Don’t Buy period’ can be incentivised during this period.
A Customer at Every Price Point
This is one of the things that makes the Indian market unique - within the same segment, the market leader, Maruti, has a multitude of offerings. In effect, there is a car which is Rs. 50,000 or Rs. 75,000 more than the next model from the same stable. A car buyer can choose from an Alto, WagonR or A-Star, going up to the Swift, if compact is what he is looking for. While this can at times confuse the consumer, it gives the company a presence at every possible price point, with variants to boot. In other markets, the models are not priced so close to each other, but variants would.
This is something that has worked wonderfully for the car maker in India. It is also reflective of the Indian market, where there is a customer available at every price point! Having a range of products within a segment helps make the brand stronger, because you can address various customer segments within a particular range. There’s virtually no gap in the portfolio of Maruti in India.
In terms of the overall number of models available, across players, it is bound to go up further. In comparison with the US, Australia or even Malaysia, Indians still have fewer models to choose from. As the market progresses, the number of models will go up too.
‘Indians are Value Conscious’. Who Isn’t?
Across the world, customers seek value, and this is true of automobiles too. There are many countries where Value-For-Money (VFM) is the most important criteria affecting choice of car. We have an award at Frost & Sullivan called the VFM Awards, in several markets like Malaysia and Singapore. In the Malaysian market, there is a company called Peruguva VIVA that has come out as the top rated company consistently. In Malaysia, the affordability is pretty high, but consumers still seek VFM.
In the US market, the fastest growing cars last year were Hyundai and Kia. These represent VFM. They were growing at 10 to 12 percent when the rest of the auto companies were registering a drop in sales.
Made in India. Sold The World Over.
The domestic sales of cars in India are higher than its exports, and that is because the domestic demand is so high. That is not likely to change because the domestic demand is not going to dry up soon. However, there is huge potential for India to emerge as a small car hub - that export potential is real and is being reflected by developments already.
The export potential is determined by the kind of product you have competency in. Across industries, and especially in manufacturing, it is about having the competency across an entire supply chain. Thailand, for example, ha the entire supply chain for manufacture of pick-up trucks. It has hence become the production hub in the region for pick-up trucks.
India has developed that potential for small cars and foreign companies are paying attention to this aspect too. On the exports front, export-focused models are being manufactured in India, whether it’s the Hyundai Santro or the Maruti Suzuki A-Star. Very few countries have the competency to be a small car hub. We will see foreign players enter India not just with an eye on the market, but also with strategic intent like production of certain types of engines. The vendor community that services the auto industry stands to benefit, even as exports from the region will benefit the nation.
The Top of the Pyramid
The top end of the market, which is addressed by players like Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Lexus, is still largely untapped. Luxury or premium cars, as a percentage of cars sold worldwide, is hardly 3 to 5 percent. Manufacturers catering to this segment are sensing this opportunity. For these companies, the absolute volumes that India’s upper crust and upwardly mobile represent is exciting, even if it is not so large as a percentage of the population.
What is the motive to buy luxury cars? The motives are the same as the ones that give customers the propensity to indulge in other premium and luxury goods, coupled with the ability to buy. So as a category, and as a paradigm, luxury is something that is bound to grow in India. It is only natural that luxury cars will grow with the trend.
Road Ahead
From the products perspective, India is unique in terms of the number of small and medium-sized cars of the total cars sold. There is an obvious skew towards small and medium-sized cars, possibly because of the large middle class belly that exists and the narrow roads in our country. In that sense, the Indian car market is charting its own course.
Things are looking good for the Indian car companies. The total demand in a market is defined by what we call the Gompertz Curve, which evaluates penetration of cars against disposable incomes. The Indian market is pretty much following this curve and is expected to in the future as well.
This indicator of future demand has been quite accurate in other global markets as well. So, there’s enough reason to cheer the market on, as more and more people get behind their new set of wheels. Common sense tells us that the need for mobility is so high, that people will need to commute, and when they can afford it, would like to do so in the air-conditioned comfort of their cars.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Why are Indians Cricket Crazy?
The most forwarded email joke making rounds on internet these days is: “When every Indian is worried about and is debating where Ram was born, a bunch of Australian players and the cricketing fraternity is worried about and debating WHY Laxman was born”
VVS Laxman has revived India’s interest in cricket yet again. The spot fixing scandal and corruption had eclipsed the interest in cricket and the high esteem and passion in Indian mind. But one good game, memorable performance and famous win has changed everything. The fans back like nothing had happened before.
A few months ago the same team that consists of 4-5 one-man-match winners, lost to Srilanka in a dismal batting show. Not many were surprised. The situation was tailor-made for Murali who had decided to retire on that ground and wanted to close with a bang. There were only 2 things that could have stopped this. Either rain or Murali himself.
But would it reduce popularity of Sachin, Dravid or Dhoni in any way? I doubt.
Would their innumerable sponsors start thinking about them any differently? I doubt. Would their fans stop flocking them when they come to public areas tomorrow? I doubt.
World cup football 2010 gave a brand world champion champions? Has it changed anything for Indian sports fans? I doubt.
For first 1 week in Common Wealth games, Indian athletes have put together a spectacular performance. It’s raining medals and India is second position. That’s an awesome performance but would that make shooting or archery more popular than cricket? I doubt.
The fact is we are a cricket crazy nation. Our love or passion or obsession or whatever-you-name-it for cricket is above any sane, logical understanding. Our cricketing heroes have done well over the years to earn that position but they never seem to come down couple of notches if they don’t perform or misbehave. I really wonder why? A few years ago, match fixing scandal threatened to throw this off gear. A lot of high profile players were involved, their names were dragged in the scandal. We believed some of them, we looked at some others as innocent victims (or bali ka bakras). We paused, thought for a while and moved on - moved on like never before. Those players who emerged unscathed from this agni-pariksha (trial by fire) became even bigger heroes and signed even bigger sponsorship contracts and retainers from BCCI. They were considered invaluable players for IPL and we would see their real star value unleashed in the IPL auctions slated to take place before next IPL season.
This phenomenon shown by otherwise reasonable, easy to understand Indians completely is very hard to relate to. There are many theories about why Indian exhibits this crazy love for cricket. The most heard theory is cricket is an icon of colonial hangover, a symbol of British dominance on Indian hearts and minds. When British left India in 1947, they left behind 2 important things English Language and Cricket. Indians latched on to both of them with vengeance. English language made Indians’ presence felt to the world and made them richer while cricket kept them entertained. There is no doubt that Indians learnt cricket, while British were ruling them. Without any doubt that was the starting point. But it’s over 63 years since British have left. Till 1991, we were kept isolated from the world in an attempt to drive away British influence from our hearts and minds. It seemed to have worked. When we opened our eyes to the world of liberalization, we did not notice British. We welcomed Americans, Koreans, Japanese, French, Italians along with British. We had other role models to follow. British influence on our hearts and minds was greatly diminished. Even with English we had “indianized” the usage the accent which needed to unlearnt at several call centers. Besides, even British have moved away from cricket. When England was hosting cricket world cup, ESPN had to run the famous “Apple Singh” campaign to create awareness about it as the local people who mistook it for football world cup. So certainly we are not following British in our obsession for cricket.
Some link euphoria around cricket to India’s global success in cricket. In 1971, Ajit Wadekar’s team received a warm reception and test cricket became quite popular. Then came world cup win in 1983. This has to be considered a big turning point in the history of Indian cricket. As a young boy, I remember staying awake late in the night to watch the finals on Lords. I can still feel the adrenaline rush in my blood when I think about it. For records, this cricket match was a David Vs Goliath fight. Indian was team was considered lucky to reach final but nobody watching this match including large number of Indian fans, the opponents and the team themselves gave themselves any chance. Even if you listen to the commentary of that match now, the commentators were talking West Indian victory as undeniable end result. What happened on that day is a history now. It was a thumping win that revived Indian One day cricket.
Then came T20 world cup win in 2007 was another such turning point for T20 cricket. India won the T20 world cup and 20-20 the shorter version of the game, just 3 hour match full of entertainment became extremely popular. The Indian team now plays more T20 matches the test matches and some players are specialist T20 players and do not intend to enter the test match cricket. IPL is an amazing success story. This is the place where two obsessions of Indians kiss each other, Cricket and Bollywood.
It happens in an all familiar 3-hour family entertainment package that is full of action, drama, suspense, our favorite stars and dancing girls. IPL also gives us a rare opportunity to see our retired cricketing heroes, we have grown up watching, in action. An Amazing cocktail of fun and sports! Truly hats off to this innovation. Irrespective of whom heads the venture, this format and innovation is here to stay. But IPL can only be considered as a result of India’s craze for cricket not the cause India has enjoyed a lot of success in Hockey at global level by winning Olympic medals. But that did not become a religion. The players were not worshipped along with gods nor did they get any advertisement endorsements or iconic status. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were first seeded doubles pair and won many competitions together but I do not recall any major impact that they were able to create on Indian minds. It is another story that they did not give the advertisers and sponsors adequate time to work out a campaign when they were ruling at the top. Gopichand (remember him?) had won British open Badminton tournament. I am not sure how many of you are even aware of this, leave along remembering it. Abhinav Bhindra and Rathod who won us Olympic medals, they did get their share of fame but none of these sports became a national topic, leave along national craze. In first one week of commonwealth games in New Delhi, India stands second, ahead of most of the established nations. But that is unlikely to give a boot to shooting or archery or weight lifting. Sania Mirza, I would say, is a notable exception. Please pardon me Sania-fans but I don’t really recall any major win by her which made us proud. Her global ranking kept going up but the media did not even bother to report why it is going up. We liked her and loved her as a sportsperson but Tennis did not rule our hearts and minds.
Obviously, success of our teams or players in global platform is an important starting point but not good enough to hold 2 billion eyeballs glued to the TV, no matter where they are. I have been living abroad for over 5 years now. But I still track all cricket tournaments. Often I try to search for Internet links that telecast live matches. Every year, religiously, I pay thru’ my nose to subscribe to IPL or World cup cricket package. Every year I convince my wife, that this year would be another year and I would actually get up at unearthly hours and watch the matches with the same enthusiasm. When I am watching cricket, I explain to my 2-year old rules of cricket and tell him ‘This is sachin uncle”, “This is Dhoni-uncle” and feel happy if he remembers them next time. I have actually tought him all the umpire signals including powerplay and he uses it wisely to impress the guests to impress them suitably. In Singapore, there is a ground where amateurs can get together and play tennis cricket in desi-style. Every time my train passes from that ground and I see kids playing cricket 1. I feel very proud 2. I actually try to watch what happened on the next ball. Isn’t this a crazy, insane and inexplicable behavior shown by an otherwise rationale, intelligent and responsible set of people. Obviously, the reason for the relationship between Indians and cricket has foundation in a deep routed subconscious mind.
I read about an experiment conducted on a group of people belonging to different races and regionalities. There was a boxing match shown to a group of people, for whom both players were unknown. One player was clearly winning and other was clearly loosing…getting beaten up badly. But he was still trying. The spectators were asked to choose the player that they would support and surprisingly a large number of Asians chose the losing player. When they were asked why do they support a losing player, they told that 1. He has not given up, he is still trying. 2. He is an underdog he needs support.
Simple isn’t it? This experiment proved something that all of us intuitively do favor the underdog. Being an underdog for last few centuries we seem to relate ourselves to underdogs a lot better than the winners. This actually set me thinking. I started thinking about various games, how they are played, how the rules are set and what impact does it have on the players. Basketball for instance, offers a natural advantage to tall, athletic players. A short player say 5’4” would stand no chance against a normal sized 6’4” player in this game. The 6’4” player would beat the 5’4” guys 99 out of 100 times. Look at soccer, the most popular game on this planet, heavily favors players who can run fast, have stamina to keep running for 90 minutes, who have quick reflexes and good eyesight. If any of these characteristics are missing chances are that the player may not become a top-notch soccer player. Take tennis for instance. Powerful shoulder, quick reflexes, ability to sprint short distances are cornerstone for any successful player. Ramesh Krishanan was one of the most gritty and perseverant player India had produced. I still remember the Davis cup match in 1987 which he played with grit and determination to take India to finals. Yet John McEnroe had ridiculed him once saying “..he is really a difficult player to play against, I have to swing my racket twice to return his service”. He had one of the slowest serves in the game and hence could go beyond quarter-finals in any grand slam.
The point I am making is take any sports, it favors players of certain physical abilities, characteristics and it is very hard for player who do not possess those characteristics to beat them in those games. Cricket, however, is a notable exception. It does not favor any particular physical trait or characteristics. Any player of any shape or size can dominate a seemingly superior player on a given day.
I actually realized this very recently, when India lost the test match to Srilanka thanks to Murali’s bowling. Murali is currently the most successful bowler in the history of the game. He has taken 800 test wickets and 515 one-day wickets. He is the most feared bowler in the game considered to a magician of the turning ball. But he is one of the biggest underdogs of all times. For starters he is Tamil playing for a country, where Tamil population is persecuted and is associated with one of the most powerful anti-government establishment anywhere in the world. To come from such a social class and entering the national feat is not easy feat. But his underdog status does not end there. By conventional norms he is a handicapped person. He is born with double jointed wrist and permanent kink in his elbow. This physical handicap actually helps him to rotate his wrist virtually 360 deg and turn the ball deceptively. That is his weapon that took him right upto the top. I cannot think of any game where a special person can become the number 1 player and dominate strong, athletic players.
Picture this Merv Hughes 6’ 4” with stocky, experienced, aggressive fast bowler bowling to Sachin Tendulkar 5’ 5” boyish frame barely entered test match cricket on fast and bouncy pitch in Perth. Sachin stood no chance technically speaking. But the result was exactly opposite of this. Sachin dominated Merv Hughes and all other bowlers in Australian side and score memorable 148. The impact of this game on Merv was so deep that he walked up to Allan Boarder, the highest run getter at that time to say, “This little prick’s going to get more runs than you, AB” and how true was that. The ability of underdog to win does not stop at physical characteristics alone. On a given day, a player with significantly lesser skills and experience than the champions in the team can win.
Courteny Walsh was one of the leading fast bowlers bowling to Abdul Qadir, who was a leading leg-spin bowler, not very well known for his batting skills. Qadir had to score 14 runs in 4 balls to win the match and he did it. A recognized, leading fast bowler could not win against a batsman with lower skills when the odds were completely in his favor. Is such a thing heard of in any other game? Does an injured, unfit player stand a chance against a team physically fit, globally competitive players in any other game? Highly unlikely in other games but in cricket you never know.
Saed Anwar, Pakistani ace batsman hit his highest score of 184 (N.O.) against India when he was injured and was playing with a runner. VVS Laxman could barely stand upright due to sprained back in the Chandigarh test in October 2010, but he batted with tailenders to deny win to world class Australians single handedly. World class professional, fiercely competitive team of 11 could not get past an injured, ageing batsman batting with players who are not supposed to be good batsman Inzamam ul haq is regarded as second most successful batsman in the history of cricket. He was very tall, well built, powerful batsman gifted with great reflexes and sense of timing. He also holds a dubious world record of being involved in maximum run-outs. It is very well known that he just did not like to run between wickets. It is rumoured that in first class and club level matches he would instruct his batting partner not to run at all and preferred to score all his runs in bounderies. I reckon that cricket would be the only game that would allow a non-runner to be one of the most successful batsman in the world.
Arjuna Rantunga was another such famous case. Shane Warne once famously commented on him that he looks like a person who has just swallowed a goat. One look at his physical dimensions would confirm that Shane Warne was not all that wrong. But when it came to a crunch situation on Srilanka team he would excel either with bat or ball. When a critical partnership would build up, he would ask himself for bowling. Although, he was a part time bowler he would invariable come back with a wicket. If the team was in trouble due to poor batting display, he would stick around to see his team through. Nothing in his physical appearance or athleticism would suggest that he was capable of anything like this. But he did!
Cricket is full of such possibilities and uncertainties. No particular profile or physique of players is profile is favored. If a player gets right combination of different skills and determination then he can thrive on a given day. This evident not only international cricket but also in composition of Indian cricket team. In early ‘90s Indian cricket team was dominated by players in Mumbai and Delhi the top metros in India. Balance of power slowly shifted to second tier cities such as Bangalore and Chennai and now bulk of the Indian team comes from smaller cities, in fact MS Dhoni himself hails from Ranchi a class IV city in India. India has proven that success in India is no longer limited to those who have more access to resources. Everyone has an equal chance of success in cricket. The player could be tall or short, fat or slim, powerful or frail, could bowl fast or slow, could be fast & agile or slow and lethargic, they have decent chance of success in cricket. This exact aspect of the game gives a tremendous sense of hope and harbor dreams in many players who are not particularly gifted by physical abilities.
There is a theory that when Indians watch movies or cricket, they subconsciously start relating themselves to characters on the screen. (and that is why both these things are passion in India) The spectators believe their team has a chance to succeed and win against all odds. The world is flatter when it comes to cricket and David can beat Goliath more regularly. The spectators who subconsciously tend to support the underdogs and subconsciously relate themselves to the characters on the screen, get more occasions to celebrate. That’s what keeps 2 billion eyeballs glued to seemingly endless, uneventful game of cricket! These spectators are not just watching the game, they are feeling it within them. They are not just cheering their heros, they are subconsciously playing with them. They don’t watch cricket, they live, eat, drink, breathe cricket. Their relationship with cricket is quite deep, strong and founded on some fundamental aspects. It is unlikely that any other game or sport would be able to displace this in short term.
We were, we are and we will remain a cricket crazy nation…for good reasons!
VVS Laxman has revived India’s interest in cricket yet again. The spot fixing scandal and corruption had eclipsed the interest in cricket and the high esteem and passion in Indian mind. But one good game, memorable performance and famous win has changed everything. The fans back like nothing had happened before.
A few months ago the same team that consists of 4-5 one-man-match winners, lost to Srilanka in a dismal batting show. Not many were surprised. The situation was tailor-made for Murali who had decided to retire on that ground and wanted to close with a bang. There were only 2 things that could have stopped this. Either rain or Murali himself.
But would it reduce popularity of Sachin, Dravid or Dhoni in any way? I doubt.
Would their innumerable sponsors start thinking about them any differently? I doubt. Would their fans stop flocking them when they come to public areas tomorrow? I doubt.
World cup football 2010 gave a brand world champion champions? Has it changed anything for Indian sports fans? I doubt.
For first 1 week in Common Wealth games, Indian athletes have put together a spectacular performance. It’s raining medals and India is second position. That’s an awesome performance but would that make shooting or archery more popular than cricket? I doubt.
The fact is we are a cricket crazy nation. Our love or passion or obsession or whatever-you-name-it for cricket is above any sane, logical understanding. Our cricketing heroes have done well over the years to earn that position but they never seem to come down couple of notches if they don’t perform or misbehave. I really wonder why? A few years ago, match fixing scandal threatened to throw this off gear. A lot of high profile players were involved, their names were dragged in the scandal. We believed some of them, we looked at some others as innocent victims (or bali ka bakras). We paused, thought for a while and moved on - moved on like never before. Those players who emerged unscathed from this agni-pariksha (trial by fire) became even bigger heroes and signed even bigger sponsorship contracts and retainers from BCCI. They were considered invaluable players for IPL and we would see their real star value unleashed in the IPL auctions slated to take place before next IPL season.
This phenomenon shown by otherwise reasonable, easy to understand Indians completely is very hard to relate to. There are many theories about why Indian exhibits this crazy love for cricket. The most heard theory is cricket is an icon of colonial hangover, a symbol of British dominance on Indian hearts and minds. When British left India in 1947, they left behind 2 important things English Language and Cricket. Indians latched on to both of them with vengeance. English language made Indians’ presence felt to the world and made them richer while cricket kept them entertained. There is no doubt that Indians learnt cricket, while British were ruling them. Without any doubt that was the starting point. But it’s over 63 years since British have left. Till 1991, we were kept isolated from the world in an attempt to drive away British influence from our hearts and minds. It seemed to have worked. When we opened our eyes to the world of liberalization, we did not notice British. We welcomed Americans, Koreans, Japanese, French, Italians along with British. We had other role models to follow. British influence on our hearts and minds was greatly diminished. Even with English we had “indianized” the usage the accent which needed to unlearnt at several call centers. Besides, even British have moved away from cricket. When England was hosting cricket world cup, ESPN had to run the famous “Apple Singh” campaign to create awareness about it as the local people who mistook it for football world cup. So certainly we are not following British in our obsession for cricket.
Some link euphoria around cricket to India’s global success in cricket. In 1971, Ajit Wadekar’s team received a warm reception and test cricket became quite popular. Then came world cup win in 1983. This has to be considered a big turning point in the history of Indian cricket. As a young boy, I remember staying awake late in the night to watch the finals on Lords. I can still feel the adrenaline rush in my blood when I think about it. For records, this cricket match was a David Vs Goliath fight. Indian was team was considered lucky to reach final but nobody watching this match including large number of Indian fans, the opponents and the team themselves gave themselves any chance. Even if you listen to the commentary of that match now, the commentators were talking West Indian victory as undeniable end result. What happened on that day is a history now. It was a thumping win that revived Indian One day cricket.
Then came T20 world cup win in 2007 was another such turning point for T20 cricket. India won the T20 world cup and 20-20 the shorter version of the game, just 3 hour match full of entertainment became extremely popular. The Indian team now plays more T20 matches the test matches and some players are specialist T20 players and do not intend to enter the test match cricket. IPL is an amazing success story. This is the place where two obsessions of Indians kiss each other, Cricket and Bollywood.
It happens in an all familiar 3-hour family entertainment package that is full of action, drama, suspense, our favorite stars and dancing girls. IPL also gives us a rare opportunity to see our retired cricketing heroes, we have grown up watching, in action. An Amazing cocktail of fun and sports! Truly hats off to this innovation. Irrespective of whom heads the venture, this format and innovation is here to stay. But IPL can only be considered as a result of India’s craze for cricket not the cause India has enjoyed a lot of success in Hockey at global level by winning Olympic medals. But that did not become a religion. The players were not worshipped along with gods nor did they get any advertisement endorsements or iconic status. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were first seeded doubles pair and won many competitions together but I do not recall any major impact that they were able to create on Indian minds. It is another story that they did not give the advertisers and sponsors adequate time to work out a campaign when they were ruling at the top. Gopichand (remember him?) had won British open Badminton tournament. I am not sure how many of you are even aware of this, leave along remembering it. Abhinav Bhindra and Rathod who won us Olympic medals, they did get their share of fame but none of these sports became a national topic, leave along national craze. In first one week of commonwealth games in New Delhi, India stands second, ahead of most of the established nations. But that is unlikely to give a boot to shooting or archery or weight lifting. Sania Mirza, I would say, is a notable exception. Please pardon me Sania-fans but I don’t really recall any major win by her which made us proud. Her global ranking kept going up but the media did not even bother to report why it is going up. We liked her and loved her as a sportsperson but Tennis did not rule our hearts and minds.
Obviously, success of our teams or players in global platform is an important starting point but not good enough to hold 2 billion eyeballs glued to the TV, no matter where they are. I have been living abroad for over 5 years now. But I still track all cricket tournaments. Often I try to search for Internet links that telecast live matches. Every year, religiously, I pay thru’ my nose to subscribe to IPL or World cup cricket package. Every year I convince my wife, that this year would be another year and I would actually get up at unearthly hours and watch the matches with the same enthusiasm. When I am watching cricket, I explain to my 2-year old rules of cricket and tell him ‘This is sachin uncle”, “This is Dhoni-uncle” and feel happy if he remembers them next time. I have actually tought him all the umpire signals including powerplay and he uses it wisely to impress the guests to impress them suitably. In Singapore, there is a ground where amateurs can get together and play tennis cricket in desi-style. Every time my train passes from that ground and I see kids playing cricket 1. I feel very proud 2. I actually try to watch what happened on the next ball. Isn’t this a crazy, insane and inexplicable behavior shown by an otherwise rationale, intelligent and responsible set of people. Obviously, the reason for the relationship between Indians and cricket has foundation in a deep routed subconscious mind.
I read about an experiment conducted on a group of people belonging to different races and regionalities. There was a boxing match shown to a group of people, for whom both players were unknown. One player was clearly winning and other was clearly loosing…getting beaten up badly. But he was still trying. The spectators were asked to choose the player that they would support and surprisingly a large number of Asians chose the losing player. When they were asked why do they support a losing player, they told that 1. He has not given up, he is still trying. 2. He is an underdog he needs support.
Simple isn’t it? This experiment proved something that all of us intuitively do favor the underdog. Being an underdog for last few centuries we seem to relate ourselves to underdogs a lot better than the winners. This actually set me thinking. I started thinking about various games, how they are played, how the rules are set and what impact does it have on the players. Basketball for instance, offers a natural advantage to tall, athletic players. A short player say 5’4” would stand no chance against a normal sized 6’4” player in this game. The 6’4” player would beat the 5’4” guys 99 out of 100 times. Look at soccer, the most popular game on this planet, heavily favors players who can run fast, have stamina to keep running for 90 minutes, who have quick reflexes and good eyesight. If any of these characteristics are missing chances are that the player may not become a top-notch soccer player. Take tennis for instance. Powerful shoulder, quick reflexes, ability to sprint short distances are cornerstone for any successful player. Ramesh Krishanan was one of the most gritty and perseverant player India had produced. I still remember the Davis cup match in 1987 which he played with grit and determination to take India to finals. Yet John McEnroe had ridiculed him once saying “..he is really a difficult player to play against, I have to swing my racket twice to return his service”. He had one of the slowest serves in the game and hence could go beyond quarter-finals in any grand slam.
The point I am making is take any sports, it favors players of certain physical abilities, characteristics and it is very hard for player who do not possess those characteristics to beat them in those games. Cricket, however, is a notable exception. It does not favor any particular physical trait or characteristics. Any player of any shape or size can dominate a seemingly superior player on a given day.
I actually realized this very recently, when India lost the test match to Srilanka thanks to Murali’s bowling. Murali is currently the most successful bowler in the history of the game. He has taken 800 test wickets and 515 one-day wickets. He is the most feared bowler in the game considered to a magician of the turning ball. But he is one of the biggest underdogs of all times. For starters he is Tamil playing for a country, where Tamil population is persecuted and is associated with one of the most powerful anti-government establishment anywhere in the world. To come from such a social class and entering the national feat is not easy feat. But his underdog status does not end there. By conventional norms he is a handicapped person. He is born with double jointed wrist and permanent kink in his elbow. This physical handicap actually helps him to rotate his wrist virtually 360 deg and turn the ball deceptively. That is his weapon that took him right upto the top. I cannot think of any game where a special person can become the number 1 player and dominate strong, athletic players.
Picture this Merv Hughes 6’ 4” with stocky, experienced, aggressive fast bowler bowling to Sachin Tendulkar 5’ 5” boyish frame barely entered test match cricket on fast and bouncy pitch in Perth. Sachin stood no chance technically speaking. But the result was exactly opposite of this. Sachin dominated Merv Hughes and all other bowlers in Australian side and score memorable 148. The impact of this game on Merv was so deep that he walked up to Allan Boarder, the highest run getter at that time to say, “This little prick’s going to get more runs than you, AB” and how true was that. The ability of underdog to win does not stop at physical characteristics alone. On a given day, a player with significantly lesser skills and experience than the champions in the team can win.
Courteny Walsh was one of the leading fast bowlers bowling to Abdul Qadir, who was a leading leg-spin bowler, not very well known for his batting skills. Qadir had to score 14 runs in 4 balls to win the match and he did it. A recognized, leading fast bowler could not win against a batsman with lower skills when the odds were completely in his favor. Is such a thing heard of in any other game? Does an injured, unfit player stand a chance against a team physically fit, globally competitive players in any other game? Highly unlikely in other games but in cricket you never know.
Saed Anwar, Pakistani ace batsman hit his highest score of 184 (N.O.) against India when he was injured and was playing with a runner. VVS Laxman could barely stand upright due to sprained back in the Chandigarh test in October 2010, but he batted with tailenders to deny win to world class Australians single handedly. World class professional, fiercely competitive team of 11 could not get past an injured, ageing batsman batting with players who are not supposed to be good batsman Inzamam ul haq is regarded as second most successful batsman in the history of cricket. He was very tall, well built, powerful batsman gifted with great reflexes and sense of timing. He also holds a dubious world record of being involved in maximum run-outs. It is very well known that he just did not like to run between wickets. It is rumoured that in first class and club level matches he would instruct his batting partner not to run at all and preferred to score all his runs in bounderies. I reckon that cricket would be the only game that would allow a non-runner to be one of the most successful batsman in the world.
Arjuna Rantunga was another such famous case. Shane Warne once famously commented on him that he looks like a person who has just swallowed a goat. One look at his physical dimensions would confirm that Shane Warne was not all that wrong. But when it came to a crunch situation on Srilanka team he would excel either with bat or ball. When a critical partnership would build up, he would ask himself for bowling. Although, he was a part time bowler he would invariable come back with a wicket. If the team was in trouble due to poor batting display, he would stick around to see his team through. Nothing in his physical appearance or athleticism would suggest that he was capable of anything like this. But he did!
Cricket is full of such possibilities and uncertainties. No particular profile or physique of players is profile is favored. If a player gets right combination of different skills and determination then he can thrive on a given day. This evident not only international cricket but also in composition of Indian cricket team. In early ‘90s Indian cricket team was dominated by players in Mumbai and Delhi the top metros in India. Balance of power slowly shifted to second tier cities such as Bangalore and Chennai and now bulk of the Indian team comes from smaller cities, in fact MS Dhoni himself hails from Ranchi a class IV city in India. India has proven that success in India is no longer limited to those who have more access to resources. Everyone has an equal chance of success in cricket. The player could be tall or short, fat or slim, powerful or frail, could bowl fast or slow, could be fast & agile or slow and lethargic, they have decent chance of success in cricket. This exact aspect of the game gives a tremendous sense of hope and harbor dreams in many players who are not particularly gifted by physical abilities.
There is a theory that when Indians watch movies or cricket, they subconsciously start relating themselves to characters on the screen. (and that is why both these things are passion in India) The spectators believe their team has a chance to succeed and win against all odds. The world is flatter when it comes to cricket and David can beat Goliath more regularly. The spectators who subconsciously tend to support the underdogs and subconsciously relate themselves to the characters on the screen, get more occasions to celebrate. That’s what keeps 2 billion eyeballs glued to seemingly endless, uneventful game of cricket! These spectators are not just watching the game, they are feeling it within them. They are not just cheering their heros, they are subconsciously playing with them. They don’t watch cricket, they live, eat, drink, breathe cricket. Their relationship with cricket is quite deep, strong and founded on some fundamental aspects. It is unlikely that any other game or sport would be able to displace this in short term.
We were, we are and we will remain a cricket crazy nation…for good reasons!
Getting comfortable with South Korea
When you visit a new country, you often get that feeling of alienation. Especially if the people look different, the language is different and food is different.
Korea was no different for me. Till my third visit to Korea, I always had that feeling in my mind. When I think about it, this should not have happened. Yes, people look different but not greatly different from Chinese face. I have asked many Chinese, Korean and Japanese friends about tips to identify them differently just by looking at the face. Everyone starts enthusiastically describing them but they soon realize that the number of exceptions to their descriptions is almost as high as their rules. You can look at the shape of the eyes, shape of the face and make a guess but it may not be accurate in every case. I soon realized that my feeling of alienation had nothing to do how people looked in Korea.
Yes, Korean is a different language. Perhaps it is the simplest of the three eastern languages. The script is borrowed from Chinese characters but the language is developed phonetically by constructing individual letters which come together to form words, which come together to form sentences, pretty much like English language, unlike, Japanese or Chinese which are pictorial languages. However, when you move around in Korea, all important signages are in English. You never get lost. I remember travelling with my wife to Russia and when we reached the metro station, we took out the map and matched letter by letter to decode the name of the train station and missed couple of trains in the mean time. Korea is certainly not as unfriendly. I read a very interesting statistics, the per capita expenditure to learn English language is the highest in Korea. Enormous amount of money is being spent by people voluntarily in learning English. But I must say, this eagerness to learn this language is not apparent when you try to strike a conversation with someone on the street. You still need to write down your destination name in Korean and hand it over the cab driver or show it to the shopkeeper when you are trying to find the directions.
I am no stranger to Korean food either. Even in Singapore, I tend to eat Korean food more often. Korean food is one of the hottest foods served on this earth. It is incredibly hot (by temperature) when they serve it. I really wonder how Koreans manage to eat such hot food before it cools down. After a couple of trips, I also got used to the stainless steel chopsticks typically used in Korea. I wonder why do they use them in Korea. But this hurdle was also out of my way.
Still for 3 consecutive visits, my alienation feeling did not vanish. Something happened during my fourth visit that I suddenly started feeling at ease with Korea. I started wondering what it can be. My wife is an avid fan of Korean TV serials. They are incredibly realistic, short concise. A typical serials has a very large number of characters, who are interrelated with intertwined relationships. But the characterization is extremely strong. No matter how small the role is justice is done to the character, there is no false note. I have reluctantly sat beside my wife, trying to strike a conversation or just being there with her, and watched these serials. I have got used to listening to Korean; although I don’t understand it …listening to it has certainly helped.
In my last visit, I kept aside all my inhibitions and went out with my colleagues and ask them to take me to a restaurant they usually go to. They took me a traditional Korean restaurant. Typically, such restaurants are managed by friendly ladies, they are quite informal. They don’t ask you whether you
have a reservation…they just take you to your private room. You need to remove your shoes and sit on the ground around a small dining table. Once the order is placed the action begins. Typical Korean meal is charatecterized by main course with lots and lots of side dishes. This time I wanted to try a typical Korean dish and hence we ordered for a stinky fish. It tasted nice. But I had butterflies in my stomach when I heard the recipe. This fish is caught and buried underground with herbs for months. Gosh! I really wonder how they invent such recipes in first place and how people develop test for this. But my adventure with Korean food really won hearts and minds of my colleagues and suddenly I was one among them. I was no longer a foreigner; my acceptance of their food broke all the barriers.
Next day, I went for shopping to buy local souvenirs. Right place to buy souvenirs is never the airport or shops near tourist attractions. You need find these shops in bylanes, tucked in a corner of the city where, you don’t find many foreigners, the service offered by the shops is not world class but the items they sell are good and reasonably priced. I chose to buy a pretty expensive traditional Korean dress for my 3 year old son. It’s a 3 piece suit, with a trouser, a full shirt and sleeveless jacket on top. The colors on the dress are so vibrant. It was a really good buy. My acceptance among my colleagues shot up even further and now they really opened out with me. They were pleasantly surprised that I was not only curious about their culture but willing to buy them. The kind of conversation, I had with them later was at a completely different level.
That’s when I realized, if you really need to get comfortable with a country you need get connected with local people. You need to show respect to local culture, local food, and local traditions and demonstrate that you respect them. It is this person to person connection that makes all the difference between countries you have visited and countries you have been able to connect.
Korea was no different for me. Till my third visit to Korea, I always had that feeling in my mind. When I think about it, this should not have happened. Yes, people look different but not greatly different from Chinese face. I have asked many Chinese, Korean and Japanese friends about tips to identify them differently just by looking at the face. Everyone starts enthusiastically describing them but they soon realize that the number of exceptions to their descriptions is almost as high as their rules. You can look at the shape of the eyes, shape of the face and make a guess but it may not be accurate in every case. I soon realized that my feeling of alienation had nothing to do how people looked in Korea.
Yes, Korean is a different language. Perhaps it is the simplest of the three eastern languages. The script is borrowed from Chinese characters but the language is developed phonetically by constructing individual letters which come together to form words, which come together to form sentences, pretty much like English language, unlike, Japanese or Chinese which are pictorial languages. However, when you move around in Korea, all important signages are in English. You never get lost. I remember travelling with my wife to Russia and when we reached the metro station, we took out the map and matched letter by letter to decode the name of the train station and missed couple of trains in the mean time. Korea is certainly not as unfriendly. I read a very interesting statistics, the per capita expenditure to learn English language is the highest in Korea. Enormous amount of money is being spent by people voluntarily in learning English. But I must say, this eagerness to learn this language is not apparent when you try to strike a conversation with someone on the street. You still need to write down your destination name in Korean and hand it over the cab driver or show it to the shopkeeper when you are trying to find the directions.
I am no stranger to Korean food either. Even in Singapore, I tend to eat Korean food more often. Korean food is one of the hottest foods served on this earth. It is incredibly hot (by temperature) when they serve it. I really wonder how Koreans manage to eat such hot food before it cools down. After a couple of trips, I also got used to the stainless steel chopsticks typically used in Korea. I wonder why do they use them in Korea. But this hurdle was also out of my way.
Still for 3 consecutive visits, my alienation feeling did not vanish. Something happened during my fourth visit that I suddenly started feeling at ease with Korea. I started wondering what it can be. My wife is an avid fan of Korean TV serials. They are incredibly realistic, short concise. A typical serials has a very large number of characters, who are interrelated with intertwined relationships. But the characterization is extremely strong. No matter how small the role is justice is done to the character, there is no false note. I have reluctantly sat beside my wife, trying to strike a conversation or just being there with her, and watched these serials. I have got used to listening to Korean; although I don’t understand it …listening to it has certainly helped.
In my last visit, I kept aside all my inhibitions and went out with my colleagues and ask them to take me to a restaurant they usually go to. They took me a traditional Korean restaurant. Typically, such restaurants are managed by friendly ladies, they are quite informal. They don’t ask you whether you
have a reservation…they just take you to your private room. You need to remove your shoes and sit on the ground around a small dining table. Once the order is placed the action begins. Typical Korean meal is charatecterized by main course with lots and lots of side dishes. This time I wanted to try a typical Korean dish and hence we ordered for a stinky fish. It tasted nice. But I had butterflies in my stomach when I heard the recipe. This fish is caught and buried underground with herbs for months. Gosh! I really wonder how they invent such recipes in first place and how people develop test for this. But my adventure with Korean food really won hearts and minds of my colleagues and suddenly I was one among them. I was no longer a foreigner; my acceptance of their food broke all the barriers.
Next day, I went for shopping to buy local souvenirs. Right place to buy souvenirs is never the airport or shops near tourist attractions. You need find these shops in bylanes, tucked in a corner of the city where, you don’t find many foreigners, the service offered by the shops is not world class but the items they sell are good and reasonably priced. I chose to buy a pretty expensive traditional Korean dress for my 3 year old son. It’s a 3 piece suit, with a trouser, a full shirt and sleeveless jacket on top. The colors on the dress are so vibrant. It was a really good buy. My acceptance among my colleagues shot up even further and now they really opened out with me. They were pleasantly surprised that I was not only curious about their culture but willing to buy them. The kind of conversation, I had with them later was at a completely different level.
That’s when I realized, if you really need to get comfortable with a country you need get connected with local people. You need to show respect to local culture, local food, and local traditions and demonstrate that you respect them. It is this person to person connection that makes all the difference between countries you have visited and countries you have been able to connect.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Separating Brands from Labels
Written as Associate Project Director - Vertebrand Management Consulting for Strategic Marketing
Its distribution strategy was created by Price Waterhouse Coopers; its brand recall exercise was handled by A C Nielsen; the advanced centralised customer contact centre was powered by Siebel; Adfactors was its public relations firm; AT Kearney defined its customer centric strategies; Andersen Consulting focussed on its stock broking and risk management. And last but not the least, the content was provided by CMIE and Dun & Bradstreet, besides top media houses and international wire agencies. It engaged Top 3 celebrities in India, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan and Hritik Roshan, as its brand ambassadors. Could one ask for any better recipe than this for Brand Building for the online trade portal - Home Trade? The awareness, too, was commensurate with the efforts and investments. The ‘Brand’ catapult itself next to Coke and Pepsi in terms of Brand Recall in the year 2000. For a brief period, this strategy of branding was lauded as one of the most effective strategies.
In 2003, three years later, the ‘brand’ does not exist in the market. Contrary to the text book knowledge that the “brands are immortal”, this brand had perished. A closer look at the market and one would notice that such ‘brands’ are very high in numbers.
“Brand” is one of the most indiscriminately used and therefore, abused words in market place today. Many of them create an illusion of being a brand through their high profile campaigns, celebrity endorsements etc. The hype is short-lived and so is its existence in Market. Let us call such vanishing Brands as Labels.
Products - Labels - Brands
Products: Factories manufacture products. Products confirm to some specifications, comply with some tolerance range and confirm to some quality standards. All the product descriptors carry engineering or manufacturing terminology which can not be grasped by the customer. The products have some features, which are not necessarily understood by the customer. Hence, the best of the products may not be noticed and appreciated by the customers.
The feature needs to be translated into advantage to the customer, for her to notice it. The product-features get translated to functional value propositions (FVP) for the customer. The superiority of the functional proposition is the key to success in the market. It creates a rational reason or appeal for the customer. The customer can compare the FVPs, think and take a conscious decision. A superior product can redefine the market, dislodge the existing product in the market. It is however vulnerable to any new product offering a better functional value proposition. The better functional value proposition could be also be offered by offering similar functionalities at lesser price. Thus, the products offering just functional value proposition are quite vulnerable.
Brands: A better safeguard is to offer the customer an emotional reason to purchase over and above the functional one. Let us call it Emotional Value Proposition (EVP) The emotional reason is difficult to be replicated by the competitor, hence, even of the competitor matches the FVP, EVP creates the immunity. The customer starts seeing a definite benefit in associating with it. Successful brands own the emotions in the customers mind. The customers associate feeling of safety with Volvo and trustworthiness with TATA.
Over a period of time the Brands develop a relationship with the customer. Since, the Brands consistently evoke the emotions, customers tend use them to express themselves. That is the ultimate level the Brands can reach. At this level, they become the part of customer’s personality. The only a handful Brands can achieve this enviable position and therefore become immortal
Labels: However, the EVP follows FVP in the value chain. Mere EVP in absence of FVP does not lay any foundation for a long term brand building. Anything that offers either FVP or EVP are being referred to as “Labels” Needless to say, Labels do not offer any self expressive benefit to the customers.
The difference in value propositions creates the distinction between Brands and Labels. However, the effective communication is quite capable of bridging this gap very easily.
A Label with a very effective, high decibel and high visibility communication can easily create an illusion of being a brand. The communication may be very catchy with an extremely high recall. The customer may cherish the communication, get amused by it. But it may not lend it self effectively to build a brand.
Emotional Labels are those which offer just the emotional value and don’t back it up with a tangible value proposition. The case of Home Trade is an ideal example. Home Trade connected extremely well with the customers emotionally almost instantly. The brand ambassadors, the story board and the screen play of the ads created an immediate positive feeling which was never backed up by a solid functional value. It perished as a result.
On the other hand, there are quite a few examples of very effective communication about the product offering just the FVP to the customer without generating favourable emotions. For instance, out of close to 50 Tea brands tracked in NRS 2002, there is only one brand that has made to the Superbrand status in India. Each brand offers a tangible functional value proposition, the missing link is emotional connect. These can be termed as functional labels
Both types of Labels fail to lay the foundation of long term brand building. Functional Labels may generate trials in logical, left brained customers. But the customer’s loyalty is not guaranteed. The customer is always evaluating and looking of better products/bargains. The Label has to take the same, if not better, amount of efforts every time to win the same customer.
Emotional Labels merely create a feel good factor. Any Brand experience that is created out of this feeling is most likely to end up in the customer dissonance due non-performance of the product on required parameters.
Customers have a finite memory. There are only a finite number of brand names, logos, value propositions that can be stored there. The entire process of making decision is simplified by creating a mental-list of brands.
A brand can win the prize-place in the mental-list once it proves itself on the hostile scrutiny of the credentials by the customer. Such list is created for all the categories, even for those which are considered impulse purchase categories.
In Impulse purchase categories, the decision to purchase but the brand decision is not. In a shop intercept study conducted by Vertebrand among 100 randomly selected customers in Bangalore, 89% were pre-decided on the brand of potato chips they would have bought in case they decide to buy one. The list is invoked at the time of purchase decision.
The brands in the mental list have a head start. The other brands have to prove their mettle to win the purchase decision in their favour.
The list is updated all the times, while evaluating the brand, watching its ads, using competitive brands, talking to friends, watching a movie etc.
The raison d’etre of Brands is to own place in customer’s mind-scape. It is perhaps the most prized asset the Brand can own.
The Brands hold a long term competitive edge over all the Labels. The emotional connect coupled with strong functional value creates a long lasting relationship with the customer. Naturally, having a portfolio of successful brands is the aim of any marketer. But they need to be very careful about their portfolio. They need to continuously scrutinise the portfolio to separate Brands from the Labels. All the popular parameters such as ad recall, repeat purchase rate etc fail to do it. Here is a small test to do this. Just ask the customer, whether she “thinks” about your brand. Peep in her mind to know whether your Brand owns a place in her mind-scape.
If your Brand does so, it indeed is a Brand, otherwise it is a poor Label!!!
Its distribution strategy was created by Price Waterhouse Coopers; its brand recall exercise was handled by A C Nielsen; the advanced centralised customer contact centre was powered by Siebel; Adfactors was its public relations firm; AT Kearney defined its customer centric strategies; Andersen Consulting focussed on its stock broking and risk management. And last but not the least, the content was provided by CMIE and Dun & Bradstreet, besides top media houses and international wire agencies. It engaged Top 3 celebrities in India, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan and Hritik Roshan, as its brand ambassadors. Could one ask for any better recipe than this for Brand Building for the online trade portal - Home Trade? The awareness, too, was commensurate with the efforts and investments. The ‘Brand’ catapult itself next to Coke and Pepsi in terms of Brand Recall in the year 2000. For a brief period, this strategy of branding was lauded as one of the most effective strategies.
In 2003, three years later, the ‘brand’ does not exist in the market. Contrary to the text book knowledge that the “brands are immortal”, this brand had perished. A closer look at the market and one would notice that such ‘brands’ are very high in numbers.
What is a “Label”?
“Brand” is one of the most indiscriminately used and therefore, abused words in market place today. Many of them create an illusion of being a brand through their high profile campaigns, celebrity endorsements etc. The hype is short-lived and so is its existence in Market. Let us call such vanishing Brands as Labels.
Products - Labels - Brands
Products: Factories manufacture products. Products confirm to some specifications, comply with some tolerance range and confirm to some quality standards. All the product descriptors carry engineering or manufacturing terminology which can not be grasped by the customer. The products have some features, which are not necessarily understood by the customer. Hence, the best of the products may not be noticed and appreciated by the customers.
The feature needs to be translated into advantage to the customer, for her to notice it. The product-features get translated to functional value propositions (FVP) for the customer. The superiority of the functional proposition is the key to success in the market. It creates a rational reason or appeal for the customer. The customer can compare the FVPs, think and take a conscious decision. A superior product can redefine the market, dislodge the existing product in the market. It is however vulnerable to any new product offering a better functional value proposition. The better functional value proposition could be also be offered by offering similar functionalities at lesser price. Thus, the products offering just functional value proposition are quite vulnerable.
Brands: A better safeguard is to offer the customer an emotional reason to purchase over and above the functional one. Let us call it Emotional Value Proposition (EVP) The emotional reason is difficult to be replicated by the competitor, hence, even of the competitor matches the FVP, EVP creates the immunity. The customer starts seeing a definite benefit in associating with it. Successful brands own the emotions in the customers mind. The customers associate feeling of safety with Volvo and trustworthiness with TATA.
Over a period of time the Brands develop a relationship with the customer. Since, the Brands consistently evoke the emotions, customers tend use them to express themselves. That is the ultimate level the Brands can reach. At this level, they become the part of customer’s personality. The only a handful Brands can achieve this enviable position and therefore become immortal
Labels: However, the EVP follows FVP in the value chain. Mere EVP in absence of FVP does not lay any foundation for a long term brand building. Anything that offers either FVP or EVP are being referred to as “Labels” Needless to say, Labels do not offer any self expressive benefit to the customers.
Effect of Communication on Labels and Brands
The difference in value propositions creates the distinction between Brands and Labels. However, the effective communication is quite capable of bridging this gap very easily.
A Label with a very effective, high decibel and high visibility communication can easily create an illusion of being a brand. The communication may be very catchy with an extremely high recall. The customer may cherish the communication, get amused by it. But it may not lend it self effectively to build a brand.
Emotional Labels are those which offer just the emotional value and don’t back it up with a tangible value proposition. The case of Home Trade is an ideal example. Home Trade connected extremely well with the customers emotionally almost instantly. The brand ambassadors, the story board and the screen play of the ads created an immediate positive feeling which was never backed up by a solid functional value. It perished as a result.
On the other hand, there are quite a few examples of very effective communication about the product offering just the FVP to the customer without generating favourable emotions. For instance, out of close to 50 Tea brands tracked in NRS 2002, there is only one brand that has made to the Superbrand status in India. Each brand offers a tangible functional value proposition, the missing link is emotional connect. These can be termed as functional labels
Both types of Labels fail to lay the foundation of long term brand building. Functional Labels may generate trials in logical, left brained customers. But the customer’s loyalty is not guaranteed. The customer is always evaluating and looking of better products/bargains. The Label has to take the same, if not better, amount of efforts every time to win the same customer.
Emotional Labels merely create a feel good factor. Any Brand experience that is created out of this feeling is most likely to end up in the customer dissonance due non-performance of the product on required parameters.
The Mental List
Customers have a finite memory. There are only a finite number of brand names, logos, value propositions that can be stored there. The entire process of making decision is simplified by creating a mental-list of brands.
A brand can win the prize-place in the mental-list once it proves itself on the hostile scrutiny of the credentials by the customer. Such list is created for all the categories, even for those which are considered impulse purchase categories.
In Impulse purchase categories, the decision to purchase but the brand decision is not. In a shop intercept study conducted by Vertebrand among 100 randomly selected customers in Bangalore, 89% were pre-decided on the brand of potato chips they would have bought in case they decide to buy one. The list is invoked at the time of purchase decision.
The brands in the mental list have a head start. The other brands have to prove their mettle to win the purchase decision in their favour.
The list is updated all the times, while evaluating the brand, watching its ads, using competitive brands, talking to friends, watching a movie etc.
The raison d’etre of Brands is to own place in customer’s mind-scape. It is perhaps the most prized asset the Brand can own.
The Acid Test
The Brands hold a long term competitive edge over all the Labels. The emotional connect coupled with strong functional value creates a long lasting relationship with the customer. Naturally, having a portfolio of successful brands is the aim of any marketer. But they need to be very careful about their portfolio. They need to continuously scrutinise the portfolio to separate Brands from the Labels. All the popular parameters such as ad recall, repeat purchase rate etc fail to do it. Here is a small test to do this. Just ask the customer, whether she “thinks” about your brand. Peep in her mind to know whether your Brand owns a place in her mind-scape.
If your Brand does so, it indeed is a Brand, otherwise it is a poor Label!!!
Learnings from Parenthood VI
Stay Healthy, Imitate your baby
We often tend to think that we are born first and babies are borne later hence we are smarter, more intelligent hence babies need to learn from us. But this not necessarily true. Most babies are extremely fit, very active. During 3-6 months of age, they can lie on their backs hold up their legs for hours and keep cycling motion on for enviably long time. I came across an interesting statistics that if their cycling motion is converted into a distance travelled, a 3-6 month old actually covers 3km every day. The other day, I took out my toddler for a stroll in the night. When we left home he was about to sleep and showed those low energy symptoms. When we reached the garden, he suddenly felt that surge of energy and he was running non-stop for next 30 minutes.
Learnings from Parenthood V
Some basic rules to deal with babies and their parents
All babies under age 1 are cute. ( by definition)
Rules for answering most popular FAQ : Whom does the baby look like the father or the mother?
Popular misconceptions : Most people believe that to answer the question who have to look at the baby study his face or features match them with that of father’s or mother’s and then answer the question. Most of those who take this approach, keep observing the baby and never reach any conclusion and land up annoying the parents. It is not necessary that the answer should bear any resemblance to the reality or looks of the baby. This question should be answered to make the parent happy.
Following illustration would make this point clearer.
Girlfriend : Am I looking fat?
Novice Boyfriend : ummm….let me see….turnaround…I don’t think so. (You can be sure that such a boyfriend is heading for a break-up)
Girlfriends : Am I looking fat?
Experienced Boyfriend : No. (for better results No should be pronounced even before the question si completed) not at all.
(The answer does not depend on fatness of the girlfriend at all. The answer is NO by definition and No has to be said in a very convincing and sponteneous manner)
Please follow the rules to answer MPFAQ
Rule 1 : If you know the father more than the mother then the answer is “Baby resembles the father”
Rule 2 : If you know the mother more than the father the answer is “Baby resembles the mother”
Rule 3 : If you know both of them equally the answer is “ummm…baby looks a bit like both of you” (For better results you can add difficult to verify comments like “chin resemble XXXX” or “side profile looks like YYY”)
Rule 4 : If you don’t know both of them that well then the answer is “Baby resembles the father” (Your natural curiousity will force you to ask the question “Why should benefit of doubt go to father” Answer is Mother knows, father believes)
All babies under age 1 are cute. ( by definition)
- If you find a baby who is not exactly cute….refer to Rule 1.
- Number of “U” s in “Cuuute” can be used to impress baby’s parents about how much you appreciate the baby. The number of U s is directly proportional to your appreciation of baby.
- Some words can be pronounced wrongly to create an impression that you are really impressed with the baby. Eg “So sweet” will create a moderate effect about what you feel about the baby. But for special effect same words can be pronounced as “Chooo chweet”.
- Rule 3 applies to “O” s in Cho and “E” s in chweet.
- These sounds can be used to impress only the parents, babies don’t understand them anyway.
- All babies are intelligent till age of 1. Parents are genuinely impressed by each action baby makes with her hand, legs or any undescribable sound that the baby makes. Never trivialize these actions.
- Meaningless blabbering of the baby triggers certain chemicals in right brains of the parents that make them creative. Somehow all parents are able to interpret the blabbering of the kids in a perfectly meaningful way which may bear no resemblance to reality.
- Then you will wonder if all of us born with same intelligence level till age 1, why do we see people of different intelligence levels around us. It can be explained by Rule 7 which states that similar to Newton’s law of cooling babies start losing their intelligence due to dumbness of grown ups around them. The rate of loss of intelligence is directly proportional to the square of difference between intelligence of the baby and grown-ups around her.
- This process continues till equlibrium is achieved.
Rules for answering most popular FAQ : Whom does the baby look like the father or the mother?
Popular misconceptions : Most people believe that to answer the question who have to look at the baby study his face or features match them with that of father’s or mother’s and then answer the question. Most of those who take this approach, keep observing the baby and never reach any conclusion and land up annoying the parents. It is not necessary that the answer should bear any resemblance to the reality or looks of the baby. This question should be answered to make the parent happy.
Following illustration would make this point clearer.
Girlfriend : Am I looking fat?
Novice Boyfriend : ummm….let me see….turnaround…I don’t think so. (You can be sure that such a boyfriend is heading for a break-up)
Girlfriends : Am I looking fat?
Experienced Boyfriend : No. (for better results No should be pronounced even before the question si completed) not at all.
(The answer does not depend on fatness of the girlfriend at all. The answer is NO by definition and No has to be said in a very convincing and sponteneous manner)
Please follow the rules to answer MPFAQ
Rule 1 : If you know the father more than the mother then the answer is “Baby resembles the father”
Rule 2 : If you know the mother more than the father the answer is “Baby resembles the mother”
Rule 3 : If you know both of them equally the answer is “ummm…baby looks a bit like both of you” (For better results you can add difficult to verify comments like “chin resemble XXXX” or “side profile looks like YYY”)
Rule 4 : If you don’t know both of them that well then the answer is “Baby resembles the father” (Your natural curiousity will force you to ask the question “Why should benefit of doubt go to father” Answer is Mother knows, father believes)
Learnings of Parenthood III
After an overwhelming response to “Learnings of Parenthood part I and II” we are pleased to present the sequel part III. This is summary of learnings in first 4 months of parenting. Any resemblance to your experiences of parenting is not completely coincidental.
Biggest learning after first 4 months can be summarized by an HSBC ad. It is a completely different way of looking at the baby. Different perspectives govern actions of different parents.
(all intellectual property rights acknowledged. This article has no commercial value hence no royalty charges are payable)
This difference in perspective brings in a whole new way of looking at things. Faster you learn this better is your married life.
This is perhaps the most noticeable, most feared but often underestimated activity baby performs. One tends to get carried away by decible levels and physical manifestation of it. I have learnt that there are 3 phases in babies crying
1. Crisis phase : Babies often commence crying in this phase, It is characterised by high pitch, shouting like sounds and vigorous movements of hands and legs. Babies close their eyes and high decible level that they create ensures that they are not able to hear anything else. They tend to get into an endless If-then loop. (If you hear crying, then cry even more loudly….thats the only thing they can hear).
Impact on Parents : When parents are exposed to this phase their body starts secreting certain harmones that energizes them and improves their concentration by dampening distractions. They drive away any sleep or feeling of tiredness. It helps them to face the next phase boldly without panic.
2. Challenge the Paradigm Phase : After a while babies feel tired and they reduce the decible levels to check if parents have identified the problem and whether any solution is proposed. If none of this is true then they create even higher pitched sounds and change their skin color to either red or purple or their favorite color.
Impact on Parents: Exposure to this oscilating high decible sounds seems to trigger a lot of harmones in right brain. These are often termed as creative juices. Parents often start getting bright ideas at a speed of several dozen per minute. That trigger left brain who commences implementation without bothering to check whether it makes sense or not. This phase is very important for the parents who are keen on challenging their abilities. There are cases when parents have been able perform singing, dancing, creating undescribable sounds, holding babies in positions that none has ever thought of. The possibilities here are endless. Parents tend to reinvent themselves in this phase.
3. Reward Phase : Babies tend to be in the previous phase till they find a satisfactory solution or distraction to their problem. Parents with sharp learning curves tend to reach this phase faster and faster. Babies start making descending crying noises and often smile amidst crying. Some scientist think that such actions are involuntary but we think that this smiling amidst crying is designed to reset the harmone levels among distressed parents faster. We are still conducting experiments to determine whether parents laughter is contributed majorly by babies actions or they are actually laughing at the solution that they proposed to baby which got accepted.
Things to remember
Types of Cars and Parents
Singapore has a concept of weekend car. These type of cars are allowed to run on roads after 7 PM on weekdays and on weekends only. These cars are 30% cheaper than normal cars. Babies quickly figure out that their fathers are like weekend cars and mothers are like normal cars. They are also able to assign appropriate valuation fairly quickly.
Learn or Unlearn?
We often tend to think that we are born first and babies are borne later hence we are smarter, more intelligent hence babies need to learn from us. But this not necessarily true. Babies have far better abilities than us. If you think otherwise, please try following
Conclusion: Babies have far superior physical, emotional and leadership skills. We try our best to help them unlearn these skills so that they become inferior to us and we can manage them. We term this process as “parenting”
Different Perspectives
Biggest learning after first 4 months can be summarized by an HSBC ad. It is a completely different way of looking at the baby. Different perspectives govern actions of different parents.
Mothers Point of View
(all intellectual property rights acknowledged. This article has no commercial value hence no royalty charges are payable)
Father’s Point of View
This difference in perspective brings in a whole new way of looking at things. Faster you learn this better is your married life.
Baby’s Crying
This is perhaps the most noticeable, most feared but often underestimated activity baby performs. One tends to get carried away by decible levels and physical manifestation of it. I have learnt that there are 3 phases in babies crying
1. Crisis phase : Babies often commence crying in this phase, It is characterised by high pitch, shouting like sounds and vigorous movements of hands and legs. Babies close their eyes and high decible level that they create ensures that they are not able to hear anything else. They tend to get into an endless If-then loop. (If you hear crying, then cry even more loudly….thats the only thing they can hear).
Impact on Parents : When parents are exposed to this phase their body starts secreting certain harmones that energizes them and improves their concentration by dampening distractions. They drive away any sleep or feeling of tiredness. It helps them to face the next phase boldly without panic.
2. Challenge the Paradigm Phase : After a while babies feel tired and they reduce the decible levels to check if parents have identified the problem and whether any solution is proposed. If none of this is true then they create even higher pitched sounds and change their skin color to either red or purple or their favorite color.
Impact on Parents: Exposure to this oscilating high decible sounds seems to trigger a lot of harmones in right brain. These are often termed as creative juices. Parents often start getting bright ideas at a speed of several dozen per minute. That trigger left brain who commences implementation without bothering to check whether it makes sense or not. This phase is very important for the parents who are keen on challenging their abilities. There are cases when parents have been able perform singing, dancing, creating undescribable sounds, holding babies in positions that none has ever thought of. The possibilities here are endless. Parents tend to reinvent themselves in this phase.
3. Reward Phase : Babies tend to be in the previous phase till they find a satisfactory solution or distraction to their problem. Parents with sharp learning curves tend to reach this phase faster and faster. Babies start making descending crying noises and often smile amidst crying. Some scientist think that such actions are involuntary but we think that this smiling amidst crying is designed to reset the harmone levels among distressed parents faster. We are still conducting experiments to determine whether parents laughter is contributed majorly by babies actions or they are actually laughing at the solution that they proposed to baby which got accepted.
Things to remember
- Every crying has an end.
- The end lies either in a solution (if you ever believe you have found one) or designing suitable distraction
- Probability of finding distraction >> probability of finding a solution
- You don’t necessarily have to know the problem to find a solution
- Babies still don’t know law of marginal utility. So, if something works keep employing the same solution. You will be surprised with the results.
- Babies tend to follow inverted bell-shaped curves for their problems. Probability of problems occuring at either ends is more than 3-sigma. Most problems are either input or output problems.
Types of Cars and Parents
Singapore has a concept of weekend car. These type of cars are allowed to run on roads after 7 PM on weekdays and on weekends only. These cars are 30% cheaper than normal cars. Babies quickly figure out that their fathers are like weekend cars and mothers are like normal cars. They are also able to assign appropriate valuation fairly quickly.
Learn or Unlearn?
We often tend to think that we are born first and babies are borne later hence we are smarter, more intelligent hence babies need to learn from us. But this not necessarily true. Babies have far better abilities than us. If you think otherwise, please try following
- Try to influence actions of each and every individual in the household 24X7 without uttering a single word and making “gggrrrlll” “ooooo” “bbbbaaaaa” sounds.
- A baby can stare at the most scantily dressed co-traveller, smile at her, wink at her and still get a kiss in return. Want to give it a shot? Even females are welcome to try this.
- Try to communicate each emotion just through body language without using words
- Try this. Lie down on the floor face up. Raise your left leg up vertically, hold it with your right hand and pull it hard to put the toe in your mouth. And Smile.
- Have your meal while you are completely asleep.
- Hold you both legs up and perform cycling action for 15 minutes continuously, take break for a couple of minutes and then do it for 20 minutes more.
- Cry loudly till skin color changes to red / purple. Smile in between and cry again.
Conclusion: Babies have far superior physical, emotional and leadership skills. We try our best to help them unlearn these skills so that they become inferior to us and we can manage them. We term this process as “parenting”
Learnings from Parenthood IV
Try to answer this question.
What would you be more rather happy with?
A. A decision where you have a lot of choices, you have a chance to test them out, take your time for making decision, you have a chance to consult your friends and family and discuss your decision and then you make the decision only when you are convinced.
B. You have no choice whatsoever in decision making and the decision is just thrust upon you, without asking you what you want.
Most of you would answer A, right? Well think again.
Worldover men and women spend a lot of time and energy in selecting their life partners. Men learn to be confident, funny, cool, smart, caring, supportive, well groomed, tidy, kind, thoughtful, gentle, helpful, considerate, loving, warm, compassionate, loyal, witty, responsible, committed, dependable, reliable just to name a few. Girls on the other hand learn to ignore or adjust to his forgetfulness, untidyness, distractions caused by other “places of interest”, obsession for his favorite sports, his favorite female colleague, dancing to his own rhythm, relunctance to commit etc. etc. Both of them learn to retain this behaviour till they convince each other they are the right match. Then they go thru a long process of convincing theselves about it. When they are convinced that they have nothing more left to do, they say “I do”. Depending on which part of world you stay, this can take anywhere between 6 months to 10 years and 1 to 100 iterations of the same process. In Asian cultures, parents, frinds and families also get involved. It is a seriously high involvement, long drawn process.
Still divorce rates world over are increasing. In relatively conservative countries like India the rates are touching doble digits. For more liberated and open western countries, according to a statistician number of divorces are slightly higher than marriages. (Ya that was exaggeration!). Cheating on spouse is even more rampant. They say in US, 50% spouses cheat, so if it is not you then it is your spouse. (This not exaggeration!).
What does this show? People take a long time, deliberate to take the most important decisions life and still are not happy about it or not convinced enough about it.
Now picture this!
A couple gets pregnant. Sometimes planned, sometimes unplanned. They first learn about it thru’ an external test and rush to doctor to confirm it. They have no clue that they have done what they planned or not planned. They have no control over what the baby should look like, talk like, walk like, be like or should be a boy or a girl. They first get to see on ultrasound screen, the doctor shows the face, the hands, the limbs and invariably the couple explains “Wow its so beautiful!!!”. Here I must mention that according to another study 72.3867% couples are not looking at baby at all; 80.87456% couples can not comprehend whether the black portion is supposed to be the baby or white portion and 90.873454% of the couples believe that when they look at the baby, she should at least say hello to them. The baby makes her presence felt by kicking mostly. More she kicks, more mom feels happy. If baby is powerful enough she can even kick the father or anyone who strays near the mom’s tummy. But that makes father overjoyed and proud of his creation. Baby arrives in this world when mom is either under anaesthecia or is screaming and shouting in pain and the father is worried. Still she comes and changes everything. She cries and sleeps mostly but fills air with certain optimism and love for life. It brings out the best of emotions in parents. “she is so cuuuute” everyone exclaims, irrespective of how the baby looks.
All parents love their babies. They don’t divorce their babies nor do they cheat on them. They don’t even fight with babies or get upset with them.
So, two most important decisions a person makes in life one completely thought thru’ another one completely thrust upon him/her and later one turns out to be more satisfying one.
Inference : If you want to happy don’t marry just make babies!!!
Friday, July 16, 2010
“Toyota Way” to “Tiger Way”
How long does it take for a person or a company to fall from Iconic, invincible, impregnable position to a bottomless pit? Well, ask Tiger Woods about it. Better still ask Toyota.
Tiger and Toyota had the iconic status in their own fields. In public eye they had a Midas Touch. They could do nothing wrong. What happened from Nov 2009 to Feb 2010 would enter history books as the most astonishing reversal of fortunes. There is something remarkably similar about both of them.
For starters, both of them rose to their iconic status riding on meticulous planning, strong performance and painstaking efforts. The world knows the rise of Tiger from the child prodigy to world’s best paid and the most admired athlete. He started playing golf at the age of 2. At the age of 3, he shot a 48 over nine holes in California to the bewilderment of the onlookers and appeared in Golf digest at the age of 5. Golf digest estimates that Tiger would have made about $770 million by 2007 and by 2011 he would cross $1billion of earnings. Phenomenal feat by any standards!!! Toyota started off as an offshoot of Toyoda Loom Works way back in 1930s. The “Toyota Way” puts the customer first and advocates continuous improvement. The company believes in being closer to the customers and building cars that they need. They saw something in American customers’ eyes in 1980s which the local companies failed to see and act on till turn of the century; compact, fuel efficient, reliable and affordable cars. From 1980s where it was selling just 6 models and had a market share of mere 6%, by 2008 Toyota became the largest car company in the world leaving GM behind by miles. Before the financial crisis hit the markets, Toyota was also the most profitable automotive company.
Both of them rose to their position in a remarkably understated fashion. Although, Tiger is considered the most gifted golfer of all times, “caution” forms the core of his game. Wikipedia writes about Tiger Woods “While Woods is considered one of the most charismatic figures in golfing history; his approach is, at its core, cautious. He aims for consistency. Although he is better than any other Tour player when he is in top form, his dominance comes not from regularly posting extremely low rounds, but instead from avoiding bad rounds. He plays fewer tournaments than most professionals (15–21 per year, compared to the typical 25–30), and focuses his efforts on preparing for (and peaking at) the majors and the most prestigious of the other tournaments. His manner off the course is cautious as well, as he carries himself in interviews and public appearances with a carefully controlled demeanor reminiscent of the corporate athlete persona developed between Nike and Michael Jordan.[123]”
Toyota, too, has its own unique style of leading the market. There are no aggressive messages or path breaking styles or out of the world communication messages. The focus is on getting basic things right, understanding customer requirements, producing a product that they need, maintaining the quality, bringing in efficiency to keep the cost low. Simple! There is neither any eagerness to claim the market leader position nor they have any aggressive messages to the competitors. It is also rumored that Toyota could have easily become the no. 1 car maker in the world 1 year earlier (in 2007 against 2008). But they deliberately chose to sell slightly under GM to avoid backlash. Unusual for a leader!
It was this reluctance to claim the top position or showing caution when the victory is insight set these two apart from rest of the world. This added tremendously to their public image and perceptions. They always came across as mature, down to earth yet “gifted” and divine. Success did not get into their heads and they handled rough with the smooth, easily.
There was only one problem. Infidelity was brewing in the center, away from public eye and scrutiny. The relationship that Trust has with Marriage is the same relationship Safety has with Cars. You get only once chance. If broken, it does not exist anymore. What caused infidelity was not a casual affair was a systematic failure of the relationship.
Remarkably, both of them made PR blunders even after the problems were public. For a long time, they just avoided looking at the media in the eye and saying sorry. What the fans and customers heard looked like the tip of the iceberg and they wanted their heroes to come out clean on whatever they knew. Unfortunately, “caution” got in the way and both of them just eluded media scrutiny as long as they could. Soon the wisdom dawned upon them. No sporting icon can be bigger than their fans and cannot shut away sponsors for long. No brand can be bigger than their customers and is answerable to Government on their customers’ safety.
Feb 19th was Tiger’s first media appearance with strings attached: No questions. He profusely apologized for his actions and is behavior but kept his private life still shrouded in mystery. But he made an announcement that the fans and sponsors were waiting to hear. He vowed to come to golf course where he belonged. Coincidently, on the same day Akio Toyoda agreed to appear before US congress to offer “sincere explanation” about the safety issues. This is their desperate attempt to restore the image for not only Toyota but Japan in general.
Toyota is still World’s number 1 car maker and Tiger is still world’s highest paid athlete. Toyota is still way beyond 2nd and 3rd car maker and Tiger’s gross earnings are more than the sum of earnings of next 4 athletes. They would work hard and come out of this crisis. Both of them would go back to their “dharma”, spend some time in spiritual introspection and regain their performance.
Public memory is short. Yet regaining their image, the charisma and the Midas touch would be a different ball game for both of them. They need to communicate their sincere apology for what has happened, not just to the public but to those who matter the most. In Tiger’s case, it is his wife and in case of Toyota it is millions of their loyal customers. This sincere apology won’t come from any PR efforts or nicely drafted apology note, it would come from their actions. Elin and Toyota customer’s would like to watch them for a few more years, work on their shortcomings and overcome them before starting to trust them again. Elin and Loyal customers need to forgive them first before, general public puts them on the pedestal.
Tiger and Toyota, we are your fans! We wish you the best of luck!! Elin and your customers are watching you!!!
Tiger and Toyota had the iconic status in their own fields. In public eye they had a Midas Touch. They could do nothing wrong. What happened from Nov 2009 to Feb 2010 would enter history books as the most astonishing reversal of fortunes. There is something remarkably similar about both of them.
For starters, both of them rose to their iconic status riding on meticulous planning, strong performance and painstaking efforts. The world knows the rise of Tiger from the child prodigy to world’s best paid and the most admired athlete. He started playing golf at the age of 2. At the age of 3, he shot a 48 over nine holes in California to the bewilderment of the onlookers and appeared in Golf digest at the age of 5. Golf digest estimates that Tiger would have made about $770 million by 2007 and by 2011 he would cross $1billion of earnings. Phenomenal feat by any standards!!! Toyota started off as an offshoot of Toyoda Loom Works way back in 1930s. The “Toyota Way” puts the customer first and advocates continuous improvement. The company believes in being closer to the customers and building cars that they need. They saw something in American customers’ eyes in 1980s which the local companies failed to see and act on till turn of the century; compact, fuel efficient, reliable and affordable cars. From 1980s where it was selling just 6 models and had a market share of mere 6%, by 2008 Toyota became the largest car company in the world leaving GM behind by miles. Before the financial crisis hit the markets, Toyota was also the most profitable automotive company.
Both of them rose to their position in a remarkably understated fashion. Although, Tiger is considered the most gifted golfer of all times, “caution” forms the core of his game. Wikipedia writes about Tiger Woods “While Woods is considered one of the most charismatic figures in golfing history; his approach is, at its core, cautious. He aims for consistency. Although he is better than any other Tour player when he is in top form, his dominance comes not from regularly posting extremely low rounds, but instead from avoiding bad rounds. He plays fewer tournaments than most professionals (15–21 per year, compared to the typical 25–30), and focuses his efforts on preparing for (and peaking at) the majors and the most prestigious of the other tournaments. His manner off the course is cautious as well, as he carries himself in interviews and public appearances with a carefully controlled demeanor reminiscent of the corporate athlete persona developed between Nike and Michael Jordan.[123]”
Toyota, too, has its own unique style of leading the market. There are no aggressive messages or path breaking styles or out of the world communication messages. The focus is on getting basic things right, understanding customer requirements, producing a product that they need, maintaining the quality, bringing in efficiency to keep the cost low. Simple! There is neither any eagerness to claim the market leader position nor they have any aggressive messages to the competitors. It is also rumored that Toyota could have easily become the no. 1 car maker in the world 1 year earlier (in 2007 against 2008). But they deliberately chose to sell slightly under GM to avoid backlash. Unusual for a leader!
It was this reluctance to claim the top position or showing caution when the victory is insight set these two apart from rest of the world. This added tremendously to their public image and perceptions. They always came across as mature, down to earth yet “gifted” and divine. Success did not get into their heads and they handled rough with the smooth, easily.
There was only one problem. Infidelity was brewing in the center, away from public eye and scrutiny. The relationship that Trust has with Marriage is the same relationship Safety has with Cars. You get only once chance. If broken, it does not exist anymore. What caused infidelity was not a casual affair was a systematic failure of the relationship.
Remarkably, both of them made PR blunders even after the problems were public. For a long time, they just avoided looking at the media in the eye and saying sorry. What the fans and customers heard looked like the tip of the iceberg and they wanted their heroes to come out clean on whatever they knew. Unfortunately, “caution” got in the way and both of them just eluded media scrutiny as long as they could. Soon the wisdom dawned upon them. No sporting icon can be bigger than their fans and cannot shut away sponsors for long. No brand can be bigger than their customers and is answerable to Government on their customers’ safety.
Feb 19th was Tiger’s first media appearance with strings attached: No questions. He profusely apologized for his actions and is behavior but kept his private life still shrouded in mystery. But he made an announcement that the fans and sponsors were waiting to hear. He vowed to come to golf course where he belonged. Coincidently, on the same day Akio Toyoda agreed to appear before US congress to offer “sincere explanation” about the safety issues. This is their desperate attempt to restore the image for not only Toyota but Japan in general.
Toyota is still World’s number 1 car maker and Tiger is still world’s highest paid athlete. Toyota is still way beyond 2nd and 3rd car maker and Tiger’s gross earnings are more than the sum of earnings of next 4 athletes. They would work hard and come out of this crisis. Both of them would go back to their “dharma”, spend some time in spiritual introspection and regain their performance.
Public memory is short. Yet regaining their image, the charisma and the Midas touch would be a different ball game for both of them. They need to communicate their sincere apology for what has happened, not just to the public but to those who matter the most. In Tiger’s case, it is his wife and in case of Toyota it is millions of their loyal customers. This sincere apology won’t come from any PR efforts or nicely drafted apology note, it would come from their actions. Elin and Toyota customer’s would like to watch them for a few more years, work on their shortcomings and overcome them before starting to trust them again. Elin and Loyal customers need to forgive them first before, general public puts them on the pedestal.
Tiger and Toyota, we are your fans! We wish you the best of luck!! Elin and your customers are watching you!!!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
“TOYOTA WAY” TO “TIGER WAY”
How long does it take for a person or a company to fall from Iconic, invincible, impregnable position to a bottomless pit? Well, ask Tiger Woods about it. Better still ask Toyota.
Tiger and Toyota had the iconic status in their own fields. In public eye they had a Midas Touch. They could do nothing wrong. What happened from Nov 2009 to Feb 2010 would enter history books as the most astonishing reversal of fortunes. There is something remarkably similar about both of them.
For starters, both of them rose to their iconic status riding on meticulous planning, strong performance and painstaking efforts. The world knows the rise of Tiger from the child prodigy to world's best paid and the most admired athlete. He started playing golf at the age of 2. At the age of 3, he shot a 48 over nine holes in California to the bewilderment of the onlookers and appeared in Golf digest at the age of 5. Golf digest estimates that Tiger would have made about $770 million by 2007 and by 2011 he would cross $1billion of earnings. Phenomenal feat by any standards!!! Toyota started off as an offshoot of Toyoda Loom Works way back in 1930s. The "Toyota Way" puts the customer first and advocates continuous improvement. The company believes in being closer to the customers and building cars that they need. They saw something in American customers' eyes in 1980s which the local companies failed to see and act on till turn of the century; compact, fuel efficient, reliable and affordable cars. From 1980s where it was selling just 6 models and had a market share of mere 6%, by 2008 Toyota became the largest car company in the world leaving GM behind by miles. Before the financial crisis hit the markets, Toyota was also the most profitable automotive company.
Both of them rose to their position in a remarkably understated fashion. Although, Tiger is considered the most gifted golfer of all times, "caution" forms the core of his game. Wikipedia writes about Tiger Woods "While Woods is considered one of the most charismatic figures in golfing history; his approach is, at its core, cautious. He aims for consistency. Although he is better than any other Tour player when he is in top form, his dominance comes not from regularly posting extremely low rounds, but instead from avoiding bad rounds. He plays fewer tournaments than most professionals (15–21 per year, compared to the typical 25–30), and focuses his efforts on preparing for (and peaking at) the majors and the most prestigious of the other tournaments. His manner off the course is cautious as well, as he carries himself in interviews and public appearances with a carefully controlled demeanor reminiscent of the corporate athlete persona developed between Nike and Michael Jordan.[123]"
Toyota, too, has its own unique style of leading the market. There are no aggressive messages or path breaking styles or out of the world communication messages. The focus is on getting basic things right, understanding customer requirements, producing a product that they need, maintaining the quality, bringing in efficiency to keep the cost low. Simple! There is neither any eagerness to claim the market leader position nor they have any aggressive messages to the competitors. It is also rumored that Toyota could have easily become the no. 1 car maker in the world 1 year earlier (in 2007 against 2008). But they deliberately chose to sell slightly under GM to avoid backlash. Unusual for a leader!
It was this reluctance to claim the top position or showing caution when the victory is insight set these two apart from rest of the world. This added tremendously to their public image and perceptions. They always came across as mature, down to earth yet "gifted" and divine. Success did not get into their heads and they handled rough with the smooth, easily.
There was only one problem. Infidelity was brewing in the center, away from public eye and scrutiny. The relationship that Trust has with Marriage is the same relationship Safety has with Cars. You get only once chance. If broken, it does not exist anymore. What caused infidelity was not a casual affair was a systematic failure of the relationship.
Remarkably, both of them made PR blunders even after the problems were public. For a long time, they just avoided looking at the media in the eye and saying sorry. What the fans and customers heard looked like the tip of the iceberg and they wanted their heroes to come out clean on whatever they knew. Unfortunately, "caution" got in the way and both of them just eluded media scrutiny as long as they could. Soon the wisdom dawned upon them. No sporting icon can be bigger than their fans and cannot shut away sponsors for long. No brand can be bigger than their customers and is answerable to Government on their customers' safety.
Feb 19th was Tiger's first media appearance with strings attached: No questions. He profusely apologized for his actions and is behavior but kept his private life still shrouded in mystery. But he made an announcement that the fans and sponsors were waiting to hear. He vowed to come to golf course where he belonged. Coincidently, on the same day Akio Toyoda agreed to appear before US congress to offer "sincere explanation" about the safety issues. This is their desperate attempt to restore the image for not only Toyota but Japan in general.
Toyota is still World's number 1 car maker and Tiger is still world's highest paid athlete. Toyota is still way beyond 2nd and 3rd car maker and Tiger's gross earnings are more than the sum of earnings of next 4 athletes. They would work hard and come out of this crisis. Both of them would go back to their "dharma", spend some time in spiritual introspection and regain their performance.
Public memory is short. Yet regaining their image, the charisma and the Midas touch would be a different ball game for both of them. They need to communicate their sincere apology for what has happened, not just to the public but to those who matter the most. In Tiger's case, it is his wife and in case of Toyota it is millions of their loyal customers. This sincere apology won't come from any PR efforts or nicely drafted apology note, it would come from their actions. Elin and Toyota customer's would like to watch them for a few more years, work on their shortcomings and overcome them before starting to trust them again. Elin and Loyal customers need to forgive them first before, general public puts them on the pedestal.
Tiger and Toyota, we are your fans! We wish you the best of luck!! Elin and your customers are watching you!!!
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