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The Milk of Human Kindness in Bouillon

For the people who know me well, it would not be a surprise. I have a streak of adventure in me. And sometimes I find myself in situations which make for good recounting. To set the stage right, this was the time before Air Bnb and smartphones. Maps were still physical and you would talk to people to find out directions. Many moons ago, in summer of 2007, Shishir and I decided to go to Bouillon, a small town in southern Belgium, close to French border. It is a beautiful historic town. Its castle is considered one of the most beautiful in medieval architecture. More about it later. Journey from Brussels to Bouillon is a short one (in fact, journey from anywhere to anywhere in Belgium is a short one). It was a Sunday. The plan was to spend the day there and return in the evening to Brussels. Unbeknownst to us, the last bus departed quite early on Sundays, which means that after waiting for a long time at the bus stop, we realised we are stranded and started weighing our options. ...
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Roger Federer

Roy Emerson's record of 12 Grand Slam titles stood the test of time for three decades when Pistol Pete surpassed that number to create the new record at 14 Grand Slam titles.  This figure of 14 looked insurmountable in 2002 as it should be because of two reasons: One,the previous record took three decades to be broken and two, there was nobody in sight who manifested the kind of potential which made Pete Sampras rule the tennis circuit for seven years. That was 2002. More often than not, we need to look into the annuls of history to find out where is it that history was started to be made. We must go to 2001 Wimbledon fourth round to see the history being started to be written. That was when a 19 year old Roger Federer defeated Sampras thereby ending his 31 match winning streak at SW19.  Its hindsight now, although people took notice of Federer then, but not many knew that he will be a worthy successor of Sampras at Wimbledon and surpass him. He piled on 7 at SW19, ...
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IPL, Lalit Modi and the Kerry Packer circus-3

From the last post, we have come a long way in IPL. Lalit Modi has been shown the door out. Srinivasan, who was possibly the most powerful person in Indian cricket has been wrapped in the knuckles by the Supreme Court of India.  The initial detractors have dwindled in number and intensity. The crowd loves the feisty tournament. TV viewership has led to increased ad spending on TVC spots. It looks like the classic happy-ever-after scenario. If Kerry Packer Circus was the first wave of sweeping changes to cricket, IPL is the second wave. The sporting success parameters have changed, the batting averages and the bowling averages need a totally different yardstick. There is still the perfunctory tribute to Test cricket being the ultimate form of the game but everyone knows the reality.
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Getting the CIO to buy

THE IT marketer has a unique playing field. From the 4 Ps of classic marketing, only the promotions is truly in the hand of the technology marketer. Even if these 4 are extended to 7, to include processes, people and physical evidence, nothing much changes.  PROMOTIONS are big enough though. These include branding, positioning, targeting and messaging. These three goals can be achieved by multiple channels, like going to trade shows, tapping the trade media, content and thought leadership, account based marketing,influencer relationship, advertising and web and social media. The above channels can be categorized into Outbound and Inbound Marketing. Or into ATL and BTL.   Or into traditional and new age.  ALL this is fine, but how does it actually work? The problem that a B2B technology marketer has to solve is to find out the reason that their target CIOs are out shopping. Is it cost take out mandate from the Board? Is it improving the efficiency of business process...
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Joseph Stiglitz: The Economics of Equality

(Joesph Stiglitz is one of the best known names in Economics today. A Nobel Prize Laureate, he is a former Chief Economist of the World Bank and currently a professor at Columbia University) Recently I had a privileged opportunity to listen to Dr. Joseph Stiglitz in a closed door, invitation only lecture. He is amongst the select group of economists who focus on equality as a parameter to macroeconomics. I will try to summarize what Dr. Stiglitz had to say and put in some perspectives on India. For a longtime, economists believed that growth is inversely proportional to equality, meaning, higher the growth, lower the equality. As a result, the focus of economic policy in capitalist economies was never on equality as long as there is poverty avoidance. For US specifically, this worked in post World War II era when the economy grew pushing up the median income. However, looking at the data from past 2 decades, on realizes that the median income today in US are lower than what they w...
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Janus: the Two Faced God

Janus, the two faced Roman god is here to preside over the transition from 2012 to 2013. His one face looks at the past year of trials and triumphs. His other face looks at the future of hope and hubris. Transitions are unequivocally important phases. We look at what was and wish it to last longer or rue at what weren't. We want the future to be better and brighter. I liken these transitions to Alice in Wonderland. An exit from a room is also an entry to a garden. If the past year saw you at the Mad Tea Party, the new year may introduce you to the Caterpillar. If the last year saw you small and afraid of the Red Queen, the new year may see you growing in stature and bring down her pack of cards. Wishing you all a happy new year, a year less violent, more stable and more emancipated.
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QR Codes

Codes have been important vehicles of communication. Come to think of it, development of language started as codes: to denote food, habitat, enemy and later to keep track of money. Codes are exciting too. Sherlock Holmes cracked the codes of Dancing Men . Shibboleth  has been used by children and tribes alike to keep outsiders at bay. Some of this excitement  came by the way of marketers when they discovered QR Codes. Verily they stand for Quick Response Codes. Internet and Smartphones opened new channels for marketers, channels which were unbeknownst to them. These channels also opened up a divide between digital and print. Advertisers could have a great visual and bang on copy on hoardings, magazines and brochures, but to expect that the audience will go to a browser and type in url was a shot at the moon. Enter QR codes. In the aforementioned ad, a QR code lets a reader do multiple actions, such as: i)    It can take user to a web page, online video, documen...
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