Hamara Bajaj

Rumour goes that Rahul Bajaj once publically stated in late 1970s......."We don't require a Marketing Department. We have a packing department instead." And it was not that there weren't options in the market..... existed in the form of Vespa and Lambretta - both Italian products.

Bajaj Scooters were in very huge demand. You had to book and wait for months or even a year plus. Or buy it on premium - which was known as buying it in black. Or one option was to pay in US Dollars. Imagine, arranging for Dollars from an NRI relative to buy a Chetak! But lot of people did take that option. Bajaj was that big a hit and production was limited.

Well, Rahul Bajaj was sharp and quick to realize the changing trends. And I'm sure he put in place a very strong Marketing Department alongwith his Packing one........ which has produced some of the best ad campaigns.....perhaps the best in the category. Look at one of the old ads of 1980s. It doesn't dwell on product features per say, but the associates the brand with the nation......people from all walks of life......Bajaj is part of their lives and celebrations......Buland Bharat Ki Buland Tasveer, Hamara Bajaj. A very powerful statement indeed. Hamara Bajaj!

And Bajaj has changed with changing times. Look at this commercial which communicates the changing picture - Badal Rahen Hain Hum Yahaan - Naye Bharat Ki Nayee Tasveer - Hamara Bajaj. Again the essential theme is the same, connecting with people and their lives. But this time the people are more young, the machines they ride are different - Bikes plus New Age Scooters. Yet, the Indian value system is well respected:

Bajaj has come a long way. It was intelligent enough to realize that it is motorcycles where future lies. And look at the amount of sea-change they brought. From a 100% scooter manufacturer to a 100% bike manufacturer. It is surprising to know that Bajaj does not produce scooters any more. Though most of its products were a great success - Bajaj Cub, Bajaj Super, Bajaj Chetak, Bravo, Chetak FE, etc.

Look at the latest commercial that went live a few days back. The theme song is the same but with so much more energy and metal. And its very inspiring...... Aage Nikal Rahe Hain Hum - Khud Se Hi Aage Har Kadam - Naye Bharat Ki Nayee Raftaar - Hamara Bajaj (this is with reference to other bike manufacturers particularly Honda). The visual matches the audio like none other that I have seen ever.....demonstrates innovation and continuous improvement.



Not to forget the FANTASTIC commercial for Avenger: Feel Like God! And there was another cute one for Bravo - Can I drop you Nikki? Odd that the company that did not believe in Marketing has given us some of the best commercials ever created. And what a brand appeal till date. If you don't believe me, walk into any Bajaj showroom on a Sunday. You will see bikes sold like hot cakes!

What Gmail did to Email

I have completely shifted from asking people their email ids to asking 'are you on Gmail?' And I think its happening with a lot of people around me.

Look at what Gmail has done to Email. Suddenly almost everybody who uses Email has a Gmail account. Yahoo & Hotmail & Rediffmail, Sify & Indiatimes have been around for years and years. It is my observation that:

1. People generally had multiple email accounts. 2 - 3 usually
2. People more often than not, used primarily only one
3. And as time progressed, they stuck to this email id for more & more stuff
4. This was either a Yahoo or Hotmail or Rediffmail or Sify or sometimes Indiatimes as well, based on preference of user
5. Most important reason for user to stick to this id was - it became popular and known. Like a phone number. One doesn't change phone number so often. Its a point to reach you. And its been circulated to all people and organizations that matter to you.

And suddenly came Gmail. Ofcourse, the tag of Google came alongwith it.

So when people were so resistant to change and at the same time were fairly happy with free services of Yahoo, Hotmail, Sify, Rediff, Indiatimes, etc........suddenly decided to shift.

And I also remember that people had to struggle with Gmail. It was based on a system totally unknown to them. People were aghast to learn you just cannot create folders on Gmail. Okay if you can search, but still.......people who were used to it found it very weird to adapt.

Then there was the funda of attaching all threads to a subject line not an absolute Reverse Chronological Order!

Once a User Experience Designer even called me up (this was a distress call).....she wanted to write a mail on a newly opened Gmail account but could not figure out the Compose link.

Then there were other smaller issues such as, you can't make out the attachment size until you open up the email, etc.

YET, NONE OF THIS MATTERED. AND GMAIL IS A BIG, BIG HIT. Inspite of a Very Late Mover! And inspite not resorting to advertising. Whereas we can see ads of Yahoo Mail, Rediffmail & Zapak Mail all around on TV, hoardings and what not.

So why did this happen? I don't know for sure but maybe the following things clicked:

1. Gmail grew through networking. You couldn't just land on Gmail Homepage & sign up (until now). You had to be invited by a friend. It started by 2 invites per user then 5 then 50. By creating scarcity, it created demand. And we know referrals work.

People invited each other......told them its 'cool....' I sent an invite to myself so that I could refer it to another 5 friends. And thats how it grew.

2. Gmail offered Search. No one else did. You had to hunt page by page, mail by mail. Not on Gmail though! And now everyone has a search within your mails.....thanks to Gmail. But none of them are as fast.

3. Gmail offered BIG storage space. And they put a formula that it will keep growing perpetually. You could stare at the figures moving every second. Gave a sense of growth!

However, I would like to add here - almost everyone followed suit in giving bigger space. But for some reason no one else could carry it off like Gmail.

4. Gmail was from Google. And THAT made the single largest difference. Because Google has a snob value. Its cool to be with Google. Coz they are big, growing, full of new, innovative ideas, young, think different. Subconsciously, its cool to be associated with Google!

After all, who thought of beginning an error message with "Oops!"

(You can compare on similar lines - What GTalk did to Yahoo Messenger)

Phew!!!

Finally managed to sign up! Too tired to write.....will post in the coming days....