Jas Business Blog

After the much hyped about auction of players by BCCI and then selling the title sponsorship to DLF and media rights to Sony, here comes another high decibel advert for Indian Premier League (IPL). Famous or say notorious now by the the title – ManoRanjan ka baap – IPL (Entertainment’s daddy – IPL) this advert is a big hit. The 75-second TVC which will run all through the 44 days of IPL and is directed by Rajesh Krishnan of Soda Films. DLF IPL kicks off at 4 pm on 18 April.

StoryBoard

The ad starts with a lady delivering twins but the irony is that the father of the kids is unknown. The twins are named as ‘Ranjan’ and ‘Mano’. During the next eight years, it’s become the norm for people such as the local pujari (priest), kiranawala (small shop owner) and chapris (roadside romeos) to torment the kids with the question, “Kab aayega tumhara baap?”, and to tease their mother lecherously.

Tired with all this, the three lead a hopeless life. One day the mother thinks its enough and decides to jump in a well; but suddenly the bells in the temple ring and the kids holler for their mother, saying, “Maaaaa! Baaaapppuuuu!” in a typical Rajesh Khanna style. The mother knows that the wait is over. She puts red sindoor in her hair and enters the house. The scene is hilarious as the voiceover says: “Aa gaya Mano-Ranjan ka baap (father). DLF Indian Premier League. Sirf Max par.”

The best part is that if you are watching the advert for the first time, you won’t get any idea of what is going to happen. The names are spelt as Ranjan Mano, with only once going as “Mano Ranjan”. Its not easy to hold on to the idea when you know you have got a winning ad coming out.

Going by the public appeal, this is one of the most funny and clever commercials currently on air. Its a simple idea, executed really well. Ads like this more often than not, go wrong in the execution phase, but this one is bang on the target. That filmi eighties kind of look and dialogs from Indian cinema, perfectly suit this ad.

Rediff wrote that , ‘An industry source said BCCI had allocated roughly Rs 100 crore as its (IPL) advertising budget,’. And aptly mentioned by Adholik, normally with such high bugdets, creativity goes for a toss, because its easy to get all the stars with such money and have them sing and dance, shoot it on camera and call it an ad. But thankfully, things din’t become figurative over here.

“The campaign projects IPL more than a sport. It redefines the entertainment by taking this sport to a new level,” said Max VP marketing T Gangadhar. The radio campaign has a different treatment as it is a listener’s medium. Out-of-home (OOH) hoardings displaying the IPL event have been erected in 150 towns. Besides the channel will have on-ground promotional activity across India as the tournament approaches.

“Males were always skewed towards cricket but with a 360 degree approach our attempt is to get the entire family to view IPL as the matches are scheduled for prime time,” added Gangadhar. The biggest challenge is to predict the viewership, admits CD Mitra, CEO, Optimum Media Solutions: “It is a big gamble for all those who have invested in it and also for those who haven’t. For most programmes the value and money is preceded by some evaluation. But in case of IPL the variations of prediction are very large.”

Once there was a little island country. The land of this country was the tiny island itself. The total money in circulation was 2 dollar as there were only two pieces of 1 dollar coins circulating around.

1) There were 3 citizens living on this island country. A owned the land. B and C each owned 1 dollar.

2) B decided to purchase the land from A for 1 dollar. So, A and C now each own 1 dollar while B owned a piece of land that is worth 1 dollar.
The net asset of the country = 3 dollar.

3) C thought that since there is only one piece of land in the country and land is non productive asset, its value must definitely go up. So, he borrowed 1 dollar from A and together with his own 1 dollar, he bought the land from B for 2 dollar.
A has a loan to C of 1 dollar, so his net asset is 1 dollar.
B sold his land and got 2 dollar, so his net asset is 2 dollar.
C owned the piece of land worth 2 dollar but with his 1 dollar debt to A, his net asset is 1 dollar.

The net asset of the country = 4 dollar.

4) A saw that the land he once owned has risen in value. He regretted selling it. Luckily, he has a 1 dollar loan to C. He then borrowed 2 dollar from B and and acquired the land back from C for 3 dollar. The payment is by 2 dollar cash (which he borrowed) and cancellation of the 1 dollar loan to C.
As a result, A now owned a piece of land that is worth 3 dollar. But since he owed B 2 dollar, his net asset is 1 dollar.

B loaned 2 dollar to A. So his net asset is 2 dollar.
C now has the 2 coins. His net asset is also 2 dollar.
The net asset of the country = 5 dollar. A bubble is building up.

(5) B saw that the value of land kept rising. He also wanted to own the land. So he bought the land from A for 4 dollar. The payment is by borrowing 2 dollar from C and cancellation of his 2 dollar loan to A.

As a result, A has got his debt cleared and he got the 2 coins. His net asset is 2 dollar.
B owned a piece of land that is worth 4 dollar but since he has a debt of 2 dollar with C, his net Asset is 2 dollar.
C loaned 2 dollar to B, so his net asset is 2 dollar.

The net asset of the country = 6 dollar. Even though, the country has only one piece of land and 2 Dollar in circulation.

(6) Everybody has made money and everybody felt happy and prosperous.

(7) One day an evil thought came to C’s mind. “Hey, what if the land price stop going up, how could B repay my loan. There is only 2 dollar in circulation, I think after all the land that B owns is worth at most 1 dollar only.”
A also thought the same by now.

(8) Nobody wanted to buy land anymore. In the end, A owns the 2 dollar coins, his net asset is 2 dollar. B owed C 2 dollar and the land he owned which he thought worth 4 dollar is now 1 dollar. His net asset become -1 dollar.

C has a loan of 2 dollar to B. But it is a bad debt. Although his net asset is still 2 dollar, his Heart is palpitating.

The net asset of the country = 3 dollar again.

Of course, before the bubble burst B thought his land worth 4 dollar. His net asset is still 2 dollar, his heart is palpitating.

The net asset of the country = 3 dollar again.

(9) B had no choice but to declare bankruptcy. C as to relinquish his 2 dollar bad debt to B but in return he acquired the land which is worth 1 dollar now.

A owns the 2 coins, his net asset is 2 dollar. B is bankrupt, his net asset is 0 dollar. ( B lost everything ) C got no choice but end up with a land worth only 1 dollar (C lost one dollar) The net asset of the country = 3 dollar.

There is however a redistribution of wealth. A is the winner, B is the loser, C is lucky that he is spared.

A few points worth noting -

(1) When a bubble is building up, the debt of individual in a country to one another is also building up.
(2) This story of the island is a close system whereby there is no other country and hence no foreign debt. The worth of the asset can
only be calculated using the island’s own currency. Hence, there is no net loss.
(3) An overdamped system is assumed when the bubble burst, meaning the land’s value did not go down to below 1 dollar.
(4) When the bubble burst, the fellow with cash is the winner. The fellows having the land or extending loan to others are the loser. The asset could shrink or in worst case, they go bankrupt.
(5) If there is another citizen D either holding a dollar or another piece of land but refrain to take part in the game. At the end of the day, he will neither win nor lose. But he will see the value of his money or land go up and down like a see saw.
(6) When the bubble was in the growing phase, everybody made money.
(7) If you are smart and know that you are living in a growing bubble, it is worthwhile to borrow money (like A ) and take part in the game. But you must know when you should change everything back to cash.
(8) In addition of land, the above applies to stocks as well.
(9) The actual worth of land or stocks depend largely on psychology.

Source: Anonymous mail forwards

Dear Reader,

It has been a tough decision, after all its no easy to destruct something that one has created oneself. But this blog has not been getting the attention it deserves from a long long time now. So I have thought if I cant contribute anything worth while here, its best to say farewells and make it rest in peace.

For all those who bump here from time to time, thanks for your patronship. It still matters!

-Author

I had written about a quarter back that how the companies across India are increasingly focusing on the corporate brand identity and not just its brands. The advertisements have been carrying the main logo in the end to make a uniform mental impression and instigate a consumer bookmark. Latest to join the wagon is Bajaj Pulsar.

In the wonderfully executed latest TVC, the ad gets what it was made for. Good videography, professional stunt riding and well planned choreography make quite a display, even when the riders are mounted on machines with a mere 200cc of engine capacity. In case you were wondering, that 0.2-liter manages 18 horsepower, which looks to be plenty to have fun with, especially as I have been really happy with the 13.3bhp (@8000rpm) from my darling Honda Unicorn.

Story of success for Pulsar starts with the elder son of Rahul Bajaj coming to India and pushing for higher power bikes. Bajaj had been making mainly scooters and had small range of bikes with technological collaboration with Kawasaki. To prove himself, Rahul gave his son Rajiv (fresh post-grad in engineering from Warwick then) made a new plant – Chakan (near Pune). And that is from where a new bike called Pulsar rose from the ashes of Bajaj Scooters! And a good part of the success is also attributed to the ‘Definately Male’ campaign made by O&M for bike’s launch.

According to agencyfaqs, the birth of the “Definitely Male ” campaign is interesting. The creative honchos found the new product from Bajaj distinctly different. It was Bajaj’s first bike without Kawasaki label. The new bike was an R&D and design marvel. Pulsar was designed by the renowned design house Tokyo R&D. O&M knew that the communication of this brand should also be different.Starting with lot of ideas, O&M stuck upon the Big Idea of India’s He-Bike. Although lot of bike take the persona of Macho bikes it was more oriented towards being “sexy”. The Big Idea was to position the bike as World’s first bike endowed with a Sex ( Gender).Thus born the classic campaign of all times ” Definitely Male”. The campaign together with the design and performance catapulted the brand into stratospheric sales level.

Bajaj targeted the 18-24 with Pulsar but later found that the brand appealed to a much older audience. This helped Bajaj to change its target audience to 21-35 years.

Unlike its old ways of doing things, Bajaj did not rest with the laurels. It knew that Pulsar is the golden key to control the entire bike market. Hence Pulsar got undivided attention from the company. In 2003 another milestone event happened in the product lifecycle of the brand. Bajaj launched its new technology DTSI. DTSi stands for Digital Twin Spark Ignition which delivered more power and efficiency. The increased performance of the brand took Pulsar to greater heights. 2004 and 2005 saw some cosmetic changes in the brand which excited the customers and thus cementing Pulsar’s position in the market.

I agree with Bajaj here that its high time they start focusing on the brand image of Pulsar. The adverts now need not to target sales but the brand building – to make Pulsar reach the status of a cult bike. These kinds of adverts, mainly seen from biggies like Nike, Coca Cola, Dove etc make you gasp and maybe even clap! And this ad is no less. Take a look here (ad culled from YouTube)