It's good to be crazy !!

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do." - Steve Jobs

Above lines are immortalized by the "Think Different" Campaign. And, it's a line I read all the time whenever I am unsure about things. You should watch the video +Steve Jobs where he was introducing the "Think Different" campaign and his mastery in connecting to audience and at the same time communicating the brand "  +Appleinc ".

“Customers must recognize that you stand for something.” Howard Schultz, Starbucks

Starbucks had change gave a new experience to drinking coffee.There were thousands of coffee shops before it and more will come,  but what makes  +Starbucks Coffee what is it today. Schultz was struck by the romance of coffee and it used Arabica beans rather than commonly used Robusta beans.Like any organization it had faced tough times but they had always kept their souls intact. Passion for coffee. That mattered and how...it's for the world to see.

“A brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com

And  +Amazon  had make sure it will make all brands come to your room with leveraging technology and customer experience.It's a pioneer in the field of -commerce and provided such a good service that it automatically created entry barriers for competitors.

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

+Albert Einstein  a scientific genius but his statement above can explain any innovation, marketing strategies and creative thinking.

I should end this blog with this video of "Think Different' campaign.

Manufacture the brand as you like it!!!

What is inspiration? What is creativity? And what are all talks and suggestions about getting connected to people rather than only communicating?

And also those marketing jargons of integrating your business with long term business strategies.

All these and then it is followed up by marketing them wrapped up with branding strategies that comprises all the channels of reaching out to people, and nowadays for sure those channels will include the digital media and online space into it.

Is it just about necessity to be present at a place where your competitor is there or rather reaching to a place before competitor reached there?? Or is it more important to get inspired and be innovative enough to come up brand new product sub-categories which will automatically lead you to get place in the dynamic competitive market.

  

An organization which is coming up in my mind is  +Audi Deutschland , more than just a car it’s a lifestyle brand. And like so many other successful lifestyle brand Audi markets its usability rather than the product itself.

I mean how many organizations are there who can claim that they get inspired from an eye of an insect!!! And inspires enough to go ahead with it and invest substantial R&D to make it happen. Then communicate the message in a limited period of time of Digital age and space how they are converting the biological evolution of an insect aye and into usable mechanics through superior German engineering….and providing an experience for consumer never before.

(Refer to this link to see the awesomeness of Audi http://www.rethinkeverythingblog.com/marketing-smack-down-by-audi-for-2013-sb-storytelling-awesomeness/)

It’s all the tricks lies in the simplicity you can bring to consumers life and make it simple. Why not?

Just think of how related the thought process of a leading premium car manufacture and a Hardware Device company , known popularly as  +Appleinc  can be..

“That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

 Steve Jobs

Innovation:Keep it fresh!!

We humans sometimes can be so greedy and materialistic -- we want more from life and every aspect of it.

It makes me think does that inbuilt program of "wanting more" is the driving force behind innovation and evolution. I think great philosophers and psychologists must have answer it already if not it's a request to the great and genius mind please do so...

Every time I heard of the marketing jargon "blockbuster product" or "product category smasher" I can see something common in them --- fun, simple and useful.

But what happens when that fun, simplicity and usefulness is not so new and fresh anymore. It's started to stale or we have some nagging feeling in our mind, can't it get better, can't we have something more to make our life easier.

  

Corporations, small businesses and start ups around the world are trying to keep up with the ever changing dynamic business scenario. And these businesses do have their own challenges. +Sony  almost came up with +iPod  like products but could not leverage on it due to their own internal issues and   +Apple Inc.  came up with its iPod.

Innovation is not only the key but the presence of culture in an organization to commercialize it which brings revolution and change and thus "Innovation".

Watch this Carl Brass +TEDx  video ....

Data and Design:Revolution of present and future !!

I made a presentation today in front of my team and all went well and two of my C level executives complemented my presentation by saying you have made look numbers interesting.I actually used +Infographics  for the presentation.

It make me think that I used significant data but also infographics to make it look interesting.So the question which came to my mind is, which impressed my peers the data or the way I presented the data??

Data and design are both complementary according to  me if you ask but sometimes each of them individually also make significant impact.

Take the best example in hand +Google  and  +Apple Inc. .Two tech giants of our time and both of them have revolutionized the tech-scenario of our time and age.

On surface both of them may look similar type of organizations but essentially they are polar opposite. With Apple relying on design and Google worshiping data as their individual building blocks respectively.

Any +Apple iFans  will vouch for its superior design .... Apple products are  synonymous to great design. Whereas Google's every products based on meticulous research of data and that is the differentiating factor for them to it's competitor.Data is truly king of them!

But its hard to tell which is more useful, you just have to come up with the correct mix.Or may be in future +Steve Wozniak (Refer source : http://mashable.com/2013/11/03/steve-wozniak-apple-should-work-with-google-samsung/)wishful thinking of Apple and Google coming together may create a big bang impact.I guess time will tell!!!

+Steve Jobs  and Apple employees expressing their viewpoints on design...

 +Larry Page's inspiring speech on how dare to take risk and data/information resulted in Google's success...

Simplicity and Human Touch: Future of Technology !!

I am avid e-book reader since last few years but once upon a time during rainy days I used sit in my room with my favorite novel and a cup of hot coffee with "samosa" and read it.

I feel e-book let me allow read whenever I am free time.And its mobility and availability through help of any smart device make it more preferable to me.

But I crave more human touch in it ....

 I miss the comfort and simplicity of a paperback book, its smell and the experience of laziness and coziness attached to it.

My idol  +Steve Jobs had described iPad as "...strategy is really simple. What we want to do is we want to put an incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you and learn how to use in 20 minutes ... And we really want to do it with a radio link in it so you don’t have to hook up to anything and you’re in communication with all of these larger databases and other computers"

But I am waiting for someone taking such user experience to next level.

Where is the next +Apple Inc. ???

It's my request to all the brilliant minds out there to come op with a technology which has a simple usage but also can me make me experience the human touch.

I know I am becoming greedy!! But what can I do I am a spoiled being of this Digital Age who is getting used to innovation of new technologies and their ever decreasing life cycle.

And I guess it’s take a brilliant moment of realization from an inventor's mind to work on already existing technologies and develop something brilliant.

Like fibre optics are existing since 19th century but it was only around 1970's the problem of attenuation (degrading of signal or connectivity over a distance) was given a thought.

 And we all know what it had led to --> The “Internet".

And its the simplicity of thought process and few -- accidentally lucky -- "eureka" moments that had given birth to few of the greatest invention that had changed the world.

For example : Discovery of microwave oven by an engineer  Percy Spencer while US company +Raytheon was carrying out wartime experiment of magnetron tubes used in radar defence.And the lucky incident was that a chocolate in his pocket was melting due to "microwave" and he implemented it into a box and what impact it had on our lifestyle!!

And such examples can go on and on ...

I am sure like lots of you out there I am also waiting for more such magic moment to happen!!!

Awesomeness of Digital Media !!!

As a part of my daily habit I was checking out digital media news and came across some cool articles , one of it says how +Google is trying to come up with uProxy Peer to Peer Internet Gateway which can solve the problem for people who cannot access it due political and legislative issues.

I mean if this project of Google is successfully launched it will be like personalized VPN-Virtualized  Private Network.But the important thing to notice will be how Google can monitor the security and chances of misuse of this setup.

And while going through some cool social media info graphics I came across two videos about the recent developments of social media and both of them gives the same message just take a look at it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slb5x5fixk4

This one gives its message with help of Cool Video Info graphics.

                                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhdC6rKUioE

Leaving people to want for more !!!

I still remember the day 5 years ago when I started my reading my first e-book version of +Gone With the Wind and I sat entire day in front of my computer and finished the book.Whoever had read this classic book have sensed an ambiguity and with prayer of romance lovers for the union of  Rhett and Scarlett. And the loyal fans of the book had wished for a sequel which never came up during the lifetime of author Margaret Mitchell. The official sequel "Scarlett" got published 73 years post of Gone with the Wind by another author named Alexandra Ripley.

From that day I had read books with happy ending and filled my memory drive with more than 1 GB of romance novels written by various authors. It had become an obsession for me.

Keeping my obsessive behaviour pattern with romance novels aside…..now if I look at basics of Marketing 101 techniques. Isn't the key to success to leave your consumers wanting for more?

I mean look around the simple examples of movies which are most likely to come up with sequels, daily soaps or serials of TVs and how can I not take name of +Appleinc 

The key is to figure out where to stop selling, not overdoing or under selling it. Have the correct mix and leave consumers wanting for more.

And given the +bigdata  entering its new phase of  Analytics 3.0 its not much of a challenge for companies investing their time in Data Collection, Data Segmentation and Data Conversion.

 (Check the link to read more details: http://iianalytics.com/a3/ )

Marketers can Optimize the Quantum Way !!!

I always used to listen with awe whenever there were news related to +quamtum phisycs  and +quantum computer  as it  used to talk about the future of computers and how it can impact our lives in the process.

Once upon a time being a science and engineering student I used to read about the concepts of it but if anyone had asked me anything regarding the practical implementation of it in daily lives and day to day use of it--I would have faced a very difficult time explaining it to someone.

But guess what +Google  had come across a +YouTube  video which explains it in a very simple way.

Check out this link :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CMdHDHEuOUE

This video tells us how this can solve the queries of human origin and the existence of life in Universe.

But it also shows +Google  step towards future technology managing +bigdata with help of +NASA .

As a consumer of +Google+ Developers  creations it also shows how as search engine users life can be easier because of Quantum physics but in such a simple way that I envied those science kids who will able to answer and discuss +Physics  so easily in their upcoming science classes after watching this video.

The power of  computer processors and the innovative technologies involving it will dictate the terms of future marketers success marketing their products.But the success will go to the ones who will leverage the technology and simplify the usage of it to the end consumers.

In the day and age of  +DigitalMarketing ,  Content marketing and Marketing automation lets see who will be the next  +Apple.inc  for us-- consumers to take computing experience to a new level.

Live Life the Android Way !!!

In my first bog ever which I wrote 3 days ago  I mentioned that Steve Paul Jobs is my inspiration and today while reading tech news regarding  +Android  Apps I remembered one of his famous quotes --

“Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

And its so true.Let me tell you why?........Few years ago while I was pursuing my engineering in Computer Science I had to create a technical presentation with 2 of my friends. I was allotted with the task of choosing the topic for presentation by my group. While I was doing my secondary research on current technologies --- I came up with 2 topics a> +BlackBerry  and b> +Android  as we were asked to submit 2 topics from which our professor would choose one and on which we had to make the presentation.

Fortunately my friends liked the topic I chose and when we went to our Operating System professor he asked us to ahead with Blackberry (as it was a rage at that point of time and he thought that our class could connect to the topic easily) but with my friends support I managed to convince him maybe Android Operating system is not as popular and well known as Blackberry but it is a very cool and a new topic.Please let us go ahead with it and luckily he agreed, and we gave our presentation finally on Android .

And at present when  my engineering and MBA days are now over, Android don't need any  introduction .Its a common word for  +Smartphones  generation. (all thanks to  +Google ,  +Andy Rubin , +Rich Miner , +Nick Sears  and +Chris White --> people responsible for it)

In my dream I did not think of Android to become such a rage (which I sincerely wish I could claim otherwise) and a  +Linux  based operating system can be so cool .

I mean just have a look to this top 10 Apps of October 2013 http://www.androidheadlines.com/2013/10/featured-top-10-best-android-apps-october-2013.html

Its awesome and I think same is the word which come to mind of approximately over 70 % of world's mobile developer population when they think of Android.And , yes God Bless Open-source Community !!!

And once again -- All Hail to  +Steve Jobs  for  being himself and +Google  for making such a useful product a commodity for users.Innovators and innovation rocks...........

Sharing is Caring

I have started blogging today only and within 2 hours I felt compelled to write another one, and this time I am blogging again for very selfish reason.

When I was a kid my mom use to say whenever you read about something try to write it down then you will remember it.

I read so many news about branding ,advertising, social media and share those links through my social media profiles such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc with amazing power of technology --> share buttons available nowadays within the article page itself but even after that I tend to forget some of those (Yes I am one of less fortunate person with cached memory system brain function !!).

So, if I am blogging why not also write about some of those news I come across everyday.

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/submarine-surfaces-middle-italian-street-crazy-ad-stunt-152898

The above link is a publicity ad stunt of a submarine emerging created by Saatchi for an insurance company and giving its all its dramatic flair and attentions.

I wish such ads should also come up in India....I mean all these ad companies here  can at least put all those potholes in our metro cities roads to some creative use and be the cause of amusement for us pedestrians.

And talking about brands and social media this is a link for Google's hummingbird role in shaping up social media content marketing

http://socialmediatoday.com/steve-rayson/1796646/10-ways-googles-hummingbird-will-shape-future-seo-and-content-marketing

And the claims it is making can be true,and why not at the end of the day they are trying to utilize the screens of our devices which we use most and for longest period of time.

Because the future innovation of lies how we optimize the screens of various devices and in its way it will create more avenues of branding provided the organizations realize where to stop intruding in personal spaces.

The Apple Way

My first blog ever and I am lost what should be the topic of my blog.I am new to corporate world with big shiny dreams in my eyes and first time felt the need to blog to share my view points and mainly to keep in touch with my passion-- Marketing.

Like most people of my age want to make a mark in the corporate world and especially in the field of Marketing.But honestly I am confused which brands to pursue. I mean there are so many brands with their wonderful stories of making mark in people's life and each is unique in its own way.

Maybe I would start with the brand Apple because it created  a revolution of its own and have changed the world.And then there is "Steve Jobs" the ultimate maverick and creative genius.So many words have been written about him and his ingeniousness, what more to write by some random  nobody like me!!!

I guess there is always something more to say about him.......because of his words his methods had created a hell lot of inspiration to me. I will always regret that I will never be able to meet him in my life. But anyway I will thank him for helping me finding my own dreams and I guess there are lot of people like me out there who also believe the same.

Few years ago I was totally clueless what to do with life (only with idea what I don't want to do which by the way mostly covers all the things my parents want me to do). I was pursuing engineering and I was so mediocre at it that I had a feeling I would never be hugely successful if I pursue it further.

And just one fine day I watched Steve Job's Stanford Convocation speech and it was mind-blowing.I decided to go for MBA in marketing (which I admit is a very conventional career choice of engineering + MBA in India) . Add thank god for that ... when I was pursuing my MBA  for the first time in life I felt, okay I am in the field I really wanted to be in. Because the course changed me as a person and specially my way of thinking and looking at life possibilities.

I wish I am more clever and talented with words so that I could have expressed properly how motivating and inspiring can be a 20 minutes video by a great leader of our time can to people like me.

And I wish I can always stay hungry and foolish as I promised myself after first watching the video.