Friday, March 28, 2008

Clutter-buster

Lowe’s Executive Creative Director, Preeti Nair Chax advances the case further. “We live in a deadly crowded ad-space with products and ads coming out of our ears! In this scenario, entertainment can offer a fabulous solution as a clutter- buster but ‘only’ if crafted with care and never losing sight of the product-is-the hero angle,” she said. She cites the example of Fevicol, Miss Palampur, Surf, Greenply, Naukri.com, ICICI Prudential (among others) as interesting examples of leveraging the entertainment quotient in a positive manner. “However celebs (especially Bollywood) should be handled with great responsibility and special care because their red-hot personas as entertainers can easily demolish the very reason for them being present in the ad – to sell the product!”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008


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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Punitive action

The year was 2002, when Ratan Tata resorted to punitive action against one of his closest associates Dilip Pendse, MD, Tata Finance for alleged FERA regulations causing substantial losses to the company as well as its hapless investors. It was a scandal that rockeed the nation, as the Tatas were always a name synonymous with trust & faith. This company then literally became a ‘trash cow’ and was subsequently merged with Tata Motors. Besides this dark chapter in its history, the company failed to set up a bank, and its forays into financial services are broadly divided into insurance, financing services and asset management. The Birlas don’t have much to take home either, as their forays are also broadly into these three categories only. Insurance is one sector where one can clearly see how these giants have taken massive blows ever since they entered. Tata AIG’s individual premiums underwritten for the month of April 2007 stand at Rs. 40.9 crores while that of Birla Sun Life were at Rs.25.4 crores. Even if they are put together, they aren’t a patch on ICICI Prudential, which underwrote individual life premiums for Rs.190 crores. Even Reliance Life has overtaken Birla Sun Life, with premiums underwritten for around Rs.30.84 crores! When we look at mutual funds, Tata Asset Management is managing assets of Rs.140.82 billion, while Birla Sun Life is managing assets of Rs.237.19 billion. But when one sees the AUM of ICICI Prudential at Rs.507.03 billion and Reliance Capital at Rs.591.44 billion, you see how, the Tatas and the Birlas are far far away from the dominant positions they are so very used to.

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Monday, March 24, 2008

The Unbankable Behemoths of India

Why have Ratan Tata and Kumar Mangalam Birla not done very well in
financial services? 4Ps B&M finds out some intriguing answers to this multibillion dollar question
Money is the root cause of all evil… but it’s also the harbinger of good times. And any company that seeks to go that extra mile ahead of its competitors in this extremely tight market feels the irresistible urge to have that formidable financial muscle to do so. And when one envisions the ultimate goal… to be a monster that has an overpowering presence in diverse sectors, that urge is exacerbated manifold. So much that you actually would want to yourself be in the pole position as far as the financial services sector is concerned. This is besides the fact that the financial services sector is a hot bed of opportunities today. Survey the companies in the IT sector, who will tell you how financial services, as a vertical, is & will remain one of their top revenue generators. Even in the global markets, the real behemoths who dominate the space they invade and occupy have extremely strong financial services wings.

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Monday, March 17, 2008

Paying heed to global warming

According to the Climate Counts scorecard that rated a list of 56 companies on how much they contribute towards the cause of countering global warming and climate change – imaging and camera specialists Canon, sports goods-maker Nike and FMCG giant Unilever, topped a list that rated the climate-friendly companies. Six companies tied for the unenviable last spot (with a score of zero on a 100-point scale!) – Jones Apparel Group, CBS, Burger King Holdings, Darden Restaurants, Wendy’s International & Amazon.com. The rankings were based on 22 parameters, that were broken down into four broad categories: How well a company had reviewed its global warming impact; how much it had reduced that impact; how much it supported public policies that encourage this reduction; and whether the company made this information available. The survey ranked 56 companies selected for their popularity among mainstream consumers in North America and Britain, and for leading their respective sectors, from electronics to fast food. Overall, the electronics/ computer sector did well in their effort to address climate change: These included (besides Canon) IBM, Toshiba, Motorola and Hewlett-Packard. The food services sector fared the worst. Starbucks, with a score of 46, was ranked the highest in this category, followed by McDonald’s. Yum Brands (which owns the Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell brands) scored a dismal 1!

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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Pricing battles

For a company that was known in the times of Keki Dadiseth to double its turnover after every 4 years, the years from 2001 to 2005 were eminently forgettable; as the company’s turnover in 2005 didn’t even match its turnover in 2001! Add to that six consecutive quarters of internecine pricing battles with P&G, struggling bottom lines, plummeting share prices, resurgent and belligerent competitors like ITC snapping close at its heels; and it seemed like an obituary to HUL’s greatness was in order. Thankfully though, HUL has not taken a generation to bring back some semblance of pride to its balance sheet. For the financial year 2006, the gross sales figure has grown to Rs.130.35 billion (yo- y growth of 8%), and for the quarter ending June 2007, HUL has posted a growth of 13% in net sales to reach Rs.34.31 billion. Interestingly, profits have been even better off , with PAT growing at 24.4% to reach Rs.4.72 billion. An exuberant Manwani is quick to point out, “We have sustained our strong growth momentum across HPC and Foods businesses.

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Monday, March 10, 2008

Heal the world with sporting spirit

Soccer can be a decisive strategy in saving the Earth from oblivion
It will be naïve to give Soccer an introduction in a football frenzy world. It doesn’t matter where it is played, when it is played & who is playing, Soccer has this amazing ability to galvanise the entire world into one. Be it the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup or the European Cup or the Third World’s very own Copa America, Soccer has in it what it takes to make mankind forget war, rivalry & ethnic fights for a while. That’swhy probably the World Bank referred to it as ‘A Successful Example of Globalisation’. Soccer or Football has not just been the platform for many of the ethnic Africans to showpiece their skills but also has made it a point that a black-skinned Theary Henry or Didier Drog- ba has as much fan following as a White skinned David Beckham or a Michael Owen. Yet, Soccer isn’t just about racial equality. The revenue that this game generates annually is probably much bigger than the economies of western Europe or developing Asian giants.

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Saturday, March 08, 2008

CDMA+GSM; best of both worlds in one

Amidst the strong growth in subscribers and increasing valuations, innovation is one factor, which is constantly providing newer avenues of growth to Indian telecom sector. Latest innovation to hit the market is the dual SIM Smart World Phone by Samsung & Tata Indicom, which allows the users to have two SIM cards slots inside one phone. To the delight of the customers, the phone also boasts of a touch screen, handwriting recognition technique, fi le viewer and advanced organising capabilities at a competitive price tag of Rs.11, 999. Well, apart from the moolah for the mobile manufacturers, the phone, due to its dual SIM capability, is no less than a bounty for the operators.

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Thursday, March 06, 2008

VW is buoyant & also profitable!

Cost cutting has reaped benefits for the German auto maker, Volkswagen (VW). It is all set to reach its 2008 pretax profit target of $7 billion in 2007 itself! VW surpassed analysts’ expectations and recorded operating profit of $2.4 billion for the second quarter. These exceptional Results however do not entail that the company is going to take it l i g h t l y. According to CFO Hans Dieter Poetsch, VW is already mulling a new car which the company plans to develop with its Shanghai counterpart. The car would be mainly targeted at markets of North America and China. The new Sedan would probably be a follow-up model of the PassatLingyu, which is locally manufactured in China.

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Monday, March 03, 2008

ROOPA GANGULY

"To me, it has to be Durga Puja hands down…and what I love about Durga Puja is the fact that people from all walks of life come together to pray and enjoy, whether it’s a rich man or a poor man, they all forget their sorrows to completely relish the festival."

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