Industries That I am Helping Sustain

 First is social media. Facebook in particular. If not for me and some of my friends, Instagram would have taken over the world, and FB would have shut down.

Scotch labels from Scotland. The malts I consume are 50-60% Scottish, helping their industry thrive. Glenlivet, Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Caol Ila, and occasionally others like Glenmorangie, Lagavulin etc. 

Indian makers of Single Malts like Amrut and Paul John. 

Pan masala makers - rather, the ones who make those that taste like real pan. Also, one masala supari from Satara called Bhave supari.

Golf ball makers, by losing balls regularly, whenever I play Golf. 

The airline industry, by taking unnecessary flights.

The tourism sector, by taking unnecessary vacations. 

The restaurants wherever I live.

Bookstores, likewise.

After Anna Hazare, I think I am the most socially useful guy alive.

Finding Your USP

 A Unique Selling Proposition. Known as USP, for short. Popular in marketing, and now everywhere. We all know it helps differentiate a product or service from others. On-time performance has been a USP for some airlines, luxury for others. But the more important question is, how do you find your USP if you are a brand/product/service or even a person?

If you do find it, you may be able to use it in a sales pitch, or demonstrate it consistently for people to identify it with you. Packaging is an easy and tangible way to do it. At least externally, if your product has a packing option. For an institution, it's tough to find one, but worth trying. Perceptions get built anyway, but you can help them along with your branding, AND performance over time. Air Deccan had Simplifly as a slogan, which expressed its desire to bring a flight within a common man's reach. Just like Maruti when launched, was a 'people's car'. 

As far as professors go, you could be known for your teaching methods, skills, knowledge, student-friendly (or the opposite) behaviour. I remember a professor from IIMB because of the exams he gave us- open book. He would give us ten statements, and ask us to agree or disagree with each, supported by references. One of the toughest exams in pre-internet times, when we had to read books/journals in the library for getting those references.

Of Lockdowns and Beyond

Just when airlines thought they had got their act together and would fly higher into profits, the Covid-19 has virtually grounded them all. Domestic flights too, till April 14th. (in India)

So after the lockdowns end, when they do, will normality return to air travel, hospitality, and all the rest? Business travel is likely to pick up first, followed by a cautious uptick in personal travel, and finally, leisure travel or tourism. People are likely to be wary of international travel for a few months at least.

What about retail? A lot of business has actually come to the small kirana stores, as they are within walking distance of most houses, and are an essential service. Maybe bigger stores will take a while in India at least, to get back all their customers. They might have to incentivise customers. We are, in the meantime, re-discovering the virtues of small businesses. Hopefully, mom and pop stores will continue to thrive in India, and not just for groceries- given the employment challenges, they have the potential to keep the families working.

Hygiene-related products may see a sustained interest, because this crisis has taught everyone the importance of washing hands and disinfecting surfaces that you can.

A simpler lifestyle might result for a while, having got used to the necessities and being able to live without a lot of discretionary spends. Marketers of many discretionary goods will have to work harder to attract customers.

Getting the lost mojo back into many economic sectors will take quite a while. Hope it happens within a year or two. If not, education may also suffer-higher education, more so. Hopefully, allocations to the health sector will go up across countries.

Corona Virus

Suddenly, it seems as though the end of the world is near. There is a virus named Covid-19 that resembles a cold or flu virus, and is doing the rounds and spreading fast. Did Nostradamus predict this? not sure, but some novel seems to have talked about it, with the precise location-Wuhan-pinpointed.

Tourism and airlines will of course take a big hit, just when we were hoping that 2020 vision will the world soaring to new heights. What can we do? Wring our hands? No, wash our hands -apparently, the best protection from catching the virus..apart from building general immunity.

Remember, there was the AIDS, Hepatitis A or B, Swine Flu, Mad Cow Disease, SARS and a few other modern-day viruses that were thought to have the capability to wipe us out, but unlike dinosaurs, we have survived. Till now. Here's hoping we continue to..take care, and wash hands often.

Poha in Flight

Slightly misleading, because it was not the poha that was flying, I was! But the flight was made interesting with the poha and the scenery-clouds of different shapes, and the blue sky. Anyway, it also proves poha has arrived, because it is being served at 35,000 feet to high-fliers!

4,00,000 and Going

Some stats from my blog to be proud of-

Pageviews last month

10,411

Pageviews Alltime 400, 035

Readers of course, are the key. I did not expect so many of you, really. I am truly madhosh. To celebrate, I am reproducing below an early blog post from 2008 titled Novelty.

What we need to keep us going is something new. According to guys like Osho, everything is evolving all the time, and therefore when you see it tomorrow it is different from what it was yesterday. This applies to everything- from a leaf on a tree to your wife, or for that matter, yourself (the mirror will vouch for that!). But everyone is not Osho. So we make valiant attempts to find variety in our lives. At least I do, sometimes with good results, sometimes with terrible ones. For example, I have tried almost all snacks available at airport counters, and they are equally bad! Ditto for food served inside the aircraft. Maybe when it is airborne, an idli has its way of getting "airy", and therefore tastes like tissue paper soaked in something. I have also tried flying all the domestic airlines now, and they all come across as callous. Just one example. If you know that the plane takes 2 hours, why put it as an hour and a half on the schedule? It fools novices into thinking they may get somewhere on time, but others by now know that they will get to know the sky at 30,000 feet a lot better while circling over the packed airports. So much for novelty. Now what is it that I need to try next? Maybe, Lalu's Garib Rath.

Airline Brands

Once upon a time, there were these brands of airlines-

Pan Am- an example of a failed American enterprise.
TWA- Another example.
Modiluft- one of the Modis and Lufthansa collaborated on this one.
East West- Came from the Middle East, and went nowhere.
Sahara- later besahara, and sold to Jet, it had a nice tagline, "Emotionally yours" . Its erstwhile promoter is now in jail.
Kingfisher- flashy and stylish while it lasted.
Kingfisher Red- was always in the red.
Jet Konnect- it was 'jettisoned' coz it had lost its connect with passengers.
Paramount- it's of paramount importance to find out what went wrong with it.
Sabena- despite its Arabian-sounding name, it was a Belgian carrier. Hercule Poirot would know.
Indian Airlines- My first flight ever was on this airline, from Dibrugarh to Calcutta (it was still that in 1983). Merged with Air India.



Other airlines I have flown (and did not necessarily cause to stop flying, except a couple) are Indigo, Go, Spicejet, Trujet, Thai, Malaysian, Singapore, Swiss, Eastern (US, domestic), US Air, Delta, Air Asia, Tiger, Air France, Lufthansa. I remember Air France had a good selection of wines.

Unique Service Experience

I had a unique service experience yesterday- an adventure (not an 'ad' venture) of sorts. I was to go to Nagpur from Hyderabad. But something happened to the plane, and it was not flying. No problems, bad moods can happen to anyone.

So, the airline was kind enough to put me and a few others like me (not in appearance, but choice of destination, airline and flight) on a plane from Hyderabad to Mumbai and then on to Nagpur. To boot, we had complimentary use of the lounge at Hyderabad, with some excellent biryani to keep us satiated while we waited- this line's almost poetic.

The journey went off well, and though I was a few hours late, I did not mind it too much, as no important engagement was missed, and the check-in girl at Hyderabad was quite polite and apologetic. An effective service recovery? Yes, I would say so. Since I am (or was) in the business of teaching Services Marketing, I am interested in my own and others' experience of various services. So I can include them in the next edition of my book.

I also got a chance to ponder the most important question looming over mankind- is Valentine's Day the most hyped card/flower/chocolate/dinner selling occasion in the year? Would like to know your views.

I am Starting an Airline, How About You?

Budding entrepreneurs, I am letting out a secret. This is the business to be in today, in case you are not in it.

Start an airline. I am starting one in a couple of days. Apparently, it takes very little to start one. There are venture capitalists to fund you, fuel companies to give you credit, and others to bail you out. And passengers who book flights in the fond hope that they'll take off. And employees who will work in the fond hope of getting paid.

You can blame everyone and everything but yourself when anything goes wrong. Like the fuel prices, the global slowdown, the Al Qaeda, 9/11, 26/11, anything/11, and their ancestors.

And if the airline fails to take off, you can get into a socially relevant field, say microfinance? If nothing else, you can always sell out, because the urge to own an airline is stronger than the urge to create your own spitting image in humankind, so there is always a buyer.