This is one of the best wins of my social media/ Internet career and I am feeling amazingly excited today. So here’s the story. The last blog I wrote on MakeMyTrip.com’s customers posting negative comments on their official fb page, got some interesting feedback.
And Here’s the Experiment
So, what I did was simple. I reached out to 3 people who had left negative comments on the MMT facebook fan page. When I say I reached out, I simply went to there fb profiles and sent them a message. A message which clearly said that I am not a MMT employee/ representative but someone who is amazingly passionate about customer service and obviously about creating a great organisational structure, which is driven by the customer WOWness.
After sending the message, I waited for them to reply and so the reply came, of 2 gentlemen, who had faced genuine problems in their respective cases while transacting with MMT.
And so came the reply
When I received the reply it was all about sharing by these gentlemen about how they faced problems and what solution would suffice them and what suggestions they have for MMT.
The reply was forwarded to relevant people at MMT and they Swung into ACTION
I forwarded the reply to the relevant people at MMT and wallah, they swung into action. Interestingly I was not even aware what was happening, till I got this ping on fb by this gentleman who said, Paritosh thanks, my issue has been sorted out and I have my refund from MMT. The issue was taken care of within hours of you reaching out to me.
I had and still have no Interest whatsoever in this story
Why did I do all this? Well, I have no personal interests. Neither am I being paid by anyone here, just that MMT is one company I have always respected, especially for the leadership it has in the form of Deep Kalra, someone I deeply respect. I personally could not see it going down like this and hence took the step of trying to get it right.
Social Media and Brand Reputation
People talk about social media and brand reputation (ORM), well, here’s a simple example of how a customer who was utterly negative about MMT, finally wrote a wonderful, thanking comment on the official MMT fb page
There’s no magic here, just pure passion for customer service and to see MMT from great to Greatness! I am happy that it all worked out well and that this experiment created an actual POC and a roadmap of what one needs to do. You don’t need to invest shit loads of money into your social media, you have to be passionate about your customer and the service.
Lets see if I do get a recommendation by MMT now he he..
There is much talk around how is social media influencing actual transactions. Is there actual commerce happening around? A recent study by Adobe Social Marketing, the Digital Index Social Report suggests how marketers are still lacking in terms of the credit they ought to give to social, which is influencing buying behavior.
Interestingly Adobe gives a great emphasis on the first click attribution, the discussion suggests that marketers mostly use the last click attribution model, to really assess the impact of social on their website traffic and further, the customer engagement with the content, commerce etc. on the website.
What is attribution: lets simplify things
To simply put, attribution is nothing but a fancy term given to the basic activity which marketers do, which is of understanding how various methods of outreach are adding ROI. In further simple language, attribution is like giving the right credit to the right source, just as it happens in real life.
What happens online?
There is so much for businesses to understand and track online, that most of the times they lose track of what is happening and what is it finally leading to. Take a case of a small and emerging business. These are businesses which cannot afford to have large in-house teams and cannot hire large agencies as well. So how do they track what’s happening online and how are they being impacted?
If your customer is searching for you on a search engine, from which he clicks a paid advertisement he sees OR that he moves onto a social network and once again sees your brand there and clicks on the same, reaches to a landing page on your website, where he sees a call to action and transacts.
Now what would you attribute the transaction to? The search engine, the paid ad, the social network, the content, the call to action on the website?
In my view
In my view, its a mix of all. Obviously you can always track, which keywords did your customer land onto your website from, if he lands from a search engine and using similar keywords (or better) you create powerful content and target paid ads. Its first click attribution in this obviously makes for an interesting number to see and track, but it has to be a mix of the first click – the call to action and the last click.
Assessing the fact as to which stage of the process of engaging with your brand is the customer taking an action and changing, is difficult, till the time the customer actually suggests, what attracted him/ influenced him and at what stage OR that you are focusing only on a single medium heavily, then you would obviously be able to assess what’s happening and how.
The key elements
To engage your TG in the relevant conversation and drive them to take an desired action, I strongly believe, what you require is powerfully engaging content. This content then has to be “distributed” the right way across channels, which are relevant to your business. To keep things simple, I consider paid media as a form of content distribution only.
The trick here is to optimize your content and the distribution and keep strong checks at every level, to understand where is the customer most responsive and when and based upon the response, the transactions happening online.
So is it the first click OR the last click?
They both combined are still inadequate. I believe the right model is, first click + last click + touching your customer in the offline world. Once there is a transaction, go touch your customer in the real world, with a phone call/ a visit (I understand this will always not be possible) OR meet your customer at events/ gatherings. Take feedback. Real Feedback.
This will give you the real sense and cut the non-sense.
All right. So the word is out and I have to start this post with a clear thought that if you are proud of being an “Active on Social Media” business, then you are being plain simple dumb!
Don’t make any assumptions about what’s next in this post after reading those words above. I have been hearing so much of the word “social” lately, that I feel the buzzword is nearing its exhaustion in the usage of the context. Businesses are just lining up to be social. I have seen so many companies who are “wanting to be social” int he recent times, that I strongly feel, they don’t even have their basic customer understanding and service right.
What I want to clearly deliver to businesses is, that being social is not about something drastically different! Its just another extension of being there. The ultimate goal of the business is to serve the customer is the best possible manner and being social won’t replace this.
Set it In Your Culture!
Being social is not simply a marketing function. Its the mindset, I strongly believe. Its one thing having a great facebook fan page, a great looking YouTube channel with many hundreds of views, but its a whole different game to have “engaged audience”, for the same. In my view its a simple black is black and white is white proposition. If you understand your customer bloody well and are serving them in the manner they expect from you, well, then, being social will automatically fetch you engaged and active fans. You will not have to pump in those many hundreds of marketing dollars and then start a cycle of engaging your fans to make them from mere listeners to active contributors.
Are You Sure You Understand and Know Your Customer Bloody Well?
Most of the companies that I work with, while creating their social media strategies, my first thought simply is to understand the audience. And NO, I DON’T look at the audience from the mindset of a salesman. I clearly and simply look at understanding, who is the influencer, who is the decision maker, who is the ultimate consumer and what all do they expect from the business!
To me its simple, if you have not been able to create a satisfied and engaged customer, someone who listens to when you communicate, well, you will always keep fighting for engaged fans on social media as well.
So many businesses today are leveraging the digital medium to present a proposition, what they are missing is a very critical and powerful point. Everyone online today has the power and freedom to express by creating content and hence if you promise something and don’t stand upto the experience, well, you will one day be written about and that day aint too far!
Connect With the Core Human Motivation to Do Things!
My personal view is that social is no different from the usual way of connecting with your customer. For a while just think of a world which was a few decades back. When businesses used to communicate and reach out to customers in a ‘now rudimentary’ format of physical letters etc. the call to action was simply based on exploring the customer motivation and delivering the same as an incentive.
Going social though has made companies lose out on the understanding the customer’s basic motivation bit. Most businesses outsource the social part to agencies who again are working with limited manpower, with more constrained knowledge of the still nascent digital media. And these agencies well, many customers can share their personal experiences!
For God’s Sake Campaigns Won’t Fetch You Actively Engaged Fans!
I must speak it out loud, marketing folks please understand, if your objective is to create a buzz, great campaigns work. Yes they do. If its about creating actively engaged fans, well, a short-lived, time constrained campaign might not be the right approach. You might be successful in acquiring a fan through a campaign, but will that fan be actively engaging in future. I have serious doubts and have examples to share from my own experience.
Understand Your Customer, Do the Basic Right and You Will Win!
All you need to do to win the social world as well is to do the basic right. Ensure that you are reaching out to your customers and creating active touch-points with him/ her, which enable you to collect critical data about the customer. His/ Her preferences, Likes/ Dislikes/ Motivations etc. Once you have this existing, you will be able to develop a far stronger strategy to reach out to the set of people online who would have the highest probability of converting for you as an actively engaged fan.
Remember, A Real Smile is Anyday Better Than a Smiley!!
As I always say, a real smiley is always far more effective than a digital one. Create powerfully engaging and NOT SELLING touch-points with your customers in the ‘real’ offline world. Once your customer comes in your communication and listening range, then create the motivational pulls online!
I am pretty excited about this post, writing this, after completing India’s Largest Entrepreneurial Event, TiEcon Delhi 2011 just the last night. It was one helluva of an effort. Not herculian, but nothing less. I must thank each and everyone who put in sleepless nights and endless days. Also appreciation for each one of you who saw value, registered for the event and came in with all the excitement. There sure was entrepreneurial energy all around.
After a successful event in many ways, I am sharing my learning’s and experiences which I believe are crucial for any entrepreneur in every stage of the business.
Pre-TiEcon. Especially for someone like me who has been in the Internet space, getting into the ‘doing a mega event’ mode was new. But that’s the fun. Learning something new every day of life.
Planning with a clear direction is critical
It was all about planning and planning with details while keeping the key objective in mind all the time. Losing focus was never in question. When you are sitting with some interesting industry leaders who have defined success in their domains, to plan out an event, well, you seldom can afford to lose focus. The entire TiE team was involved in the process and so the shape emerged of TiEcon Delhi 2011 – Entrepreneurship – Transforming India.
Let me tell you this, once the title was set, never again was a moment when anyone diverted form it. From planning sessions to approaching speakers, the broad vision for the event was always in mind.
Execution is the key: before that comes Ownership
Everyone says execution is the key. But ownership is everything. Everyone in the initial TiEcon steering committee took charge of a role, which added value to the event overall. And yes collectively everyone delivered. There always were challenges in terms of schedules, times and the rest, but when the leadership is focused it all came together.
And let me emphasize on the leadership bit. TiE Delhi – NCR has Geetika Dayal, leading the charge and she ensured at all times that everything is put in perspective and the focus does not gets lost. The ownership was defined and was evaluated at all times.
Lesson #2 hence is that there has to be ownership across the board, but there must be a strongly defined leadership which puts everything in place and ensures that focus is never lost. Hence the overall ownership always must be maintained.
Plan A might change when you least expect it: you must have a plan B, C, D
The plans you make WILL change. They will. Period. At TiEcon, speakers plans changed, we had to make last minute changes, but again there always were strong networks placed before, to ensure that if we are faced with a contingency, we do deliver. Hence planning for a situation before it occurs is always the right thing. You always must have back-up plans which will deliver.
When you have to reach on time, you will get traffic jams: you must know alternate ways to still reach on time
A night before TiEcon, the entire TiE Delhi – NCR team was at office and we were to leave for the Taj and just then, as a sudden change in plans, I had to leave to the printer’s office to get some stuff picked up. I also had to pick up my stuff from home and then reach Taj in all of 1.5 hours flat. I sat quietly for a few minutes and marked my way.
Though when I reached near Apollo, Sarita Vihar, the route which I had to take to reach to the printer’s office was jammed and this is at 11:15 in the night. Now since I knew of the situation beforehand, a quick decision had to be made. I had 2 choices: either to call up office and ask someone to pick up the stuff OR I find another way out.
These are moments when Google maps don’t work and only what you know of the area, works. I remembered, many years back my school bus used to take us from behind the Kalindi Kunj area, through Jamia University and suddenly struck a whole new way. And wallah, I was at the printer’s office in about 20 minutes.
Keep everyone informed, that’s what technology is meant for: this will enhance your decision making
While all of this was happening, me and the entire team was constantly on call and we knew exactly where who was and what who was doing, such that if someone had to pitch in with extra support, we could. And we did.
Let the master play the game, be a support system to him, that helps, don’t try and be everything
Nitin, from the TiE Delhi – NCR team is a logistics champion and we all say that with all the confidence. We ensured that while he is setting up the stalls, registration profiles etc. at 4:30 AM, we were there to help in quick decision making.
Right before that, I was quickly roped in by Manish to ensure that we ‘sex up’ the session presentations a bit, which were a little bland before. Since I can quickly work on content, change designs around, I spent about 2 hours in a quiet Taj room and got the work done, while knowing that Manish, Digbijoy and Shivam are taking care of the badges downstairs.
Teamwork: you must know the nerves
Since each one of us knew exactly, what the other was working on, we knew what was happening and what needed urgent attention. The team had full confidence in each other and the ownership was un-questionable.
Teams are not just you, they are many like you and you have to ensure you engage them enough. Talking of the team, obviously a small TiE Delhi – NCR team could not have pulled off such a large event by themselves. We were happy to have some real action oriented college students and professionals who volunteered with us and Shivam from our team took the charge of directing them the right way and yes we got much support .
Shivam incidentally has joined TiE a few months back and did a great job of getting the younger chaps together to deliver what was intended.
Its important to take feedback and act quickly, you must know just the right buttons to hit, when time is critical
One of our key networking features of TiEcon was: TiE Connect, which many people used, but not all could use it the right way. Couple of delegates approached me and the team, to help them find people who connected with them to set meetings. Some of them we were able to get together by quickly working out the TiE database and thanks to Goutam from TiE team, 2 of our delegates were much thankful to the quick TiE team, which helped them meet an interesting investor.
When it pains, it pains, its a part of what you set out to achieve!
I remember my colleague, Manish’s words, ‘this Taj bed is so soft that I feel as if, I am drowning in it’ and its not a joke. With your heels paining badly, when you are utter tired after much work, a 5 minute of a rest on a comfortable cushion feels as if the cushion is calling you in its arms.
The TiE team went on working through-out the 2 days, while ensuring that we were present at every corner of the space where people needed us.
People support you, if you are there for them!
At several events before, I have heard that delegates don’t appreciate if their badges are not in order etc. well, this happens in every large format event, hic-ups are a part of life, aint’ they, but the lesson learnt by being at the registration desk almost throughout all major moments during the 2 days was, if you are polite in your way of handling the query and get results fast, the delegate won’t mind co-operating along, while you create other opportunities for him.
I remember a statement by Aditya Ghosh of Indigo Airlines here: we studied our customers and learnt that the customer might want to talk of the skirt length of the air hostess, but what he finally pays for is the comfort, safety, service and on-time performance.
The TiE team went ahead and provided just that, starting from registration desk to the respective halls where the sessions were on and it all went smooth!
Innovation and keeping the Cost Low is the key!
Just a few days back Jeff from Amazon said some very exciting words about how to innovate while creating world class products and still keeping the costs low. TiE Delhi – NCR did something very exciting which created much value for the delegates. We leveraged the power of social networking (especially fb and twitter) to announce special bidding rounds every-day, which helped us create buzz in the environment and helped many entrepreneurs and young start-ups who were finding it hard to pay the required amount for attending TiEcon Delhi 2011, get the passes at a far lesser cost.
It helped us market by reducing our cost and pass on the benefit to the entrepreneurial community, for which we are passionately committed.
You must know your customer, Period.
You must know your customer. Paridhi, Digbijoy and Amit from the TiE team collated all available information about the delegates. This really helped the whole team ensure that we provide as much as possible, a WOW experience to everyone on the spot.
But where does the Superman in the title go?
Well, it was about being Supermen when it mattered the most. The moment was captured and handled well and ON TIME. Yes there sure were small hic-ups, but yes we learnt and the fantastic feedback we are getting from all quarters of the ecosystem is great!
Look forward to seeing you all more actively engaged while creating many new opportunities.
If you wish to know more about TiE Delhi and be a partner in growth, visit the website and call us at : 0120 – 4066500
Well, this one is going to be short and sweet. Since the past few days I have been hearing a lot of buzz about this new movie which released this Friday: Delhi- Belly! Though I haven’t seen the movie yet, but well, I know one thing for sure, its music is creating a whole connected scene with the intended audience. Especially this one song: bhaag DK Bose!
One interesting thought that came to my mind which connects with a line from the song where the singer says: Ohh by God Lag Gayee kya se kya hua?!
With the increasing inflation, almost everyday, prices of every commodity which is used by a normal household, is increasing and hence the need for discounts and sales arises all the more. It becomes normal human behavior to think of reducing prices one way or the other. Probably this is one reason many deals and discount sites are starting and doing so very well.
But lets stop for a moment and re-think it all, while you need discounts, you should be able to get them whenever you want and almost every-where you wish to. The Synergy Discounts Card actually helps you do just that!
So its as simple as walking to a partner store (it might be a food joint, a fun joint, a movie hall) and all you need to do is flash your Amity Synergy Discounts Card with the card number and wallah, the first wave of smile comes with at least a 15% discount.
As always, I never write anything on this blog, which has not been experienced by me, this discounts card is one thing I sure keep in my wallet daily. Who knows where you get a chance to save some money!
This video shows how easy it is:
So go ahead, get hold of this card and always remember, a penny saved is a penny earned.
Happiness comes branded now and I am not kidding. Take a few seconds to close your eyes, before you actually read this post further. Close your eyes and confess, how much time do you get for your family while you are working? Whan all do you really go out and have un-adulterated fun?
Which all times has this thought NOT cross your mind, that of savings and increasing prices and money management?
I bet, almost everytime. In the times that we live today, when almost everything around us is changing rapidly and the race to earn more towards a better future is where you will find everyone running, the great fun times with all the love with the family is becoming a concept.
Now save everytime when you have fun with family!
No, I aint kidding, now you can actually save every-time you either shop for clothes, have a fun time at a sports centre, take a health package, go for a dinner, buy flowers, get your hair done, order pizza, stay in hotels, work it out in Gyms, shop for music, movies, take ayurvedic massages. These are actually some of the most common things which we do with family, while we have the time.
Lets take you on a dinner in Delhi
A good dinner in Delhi for 4 people at a fairly well placed dine-in will cost about INR 2500- 3000. What if you save 20% on this bill, which will be INR 600 on INR 3000, which obviously is not a bad deal!
Penny saved is a penny earned
Someone very wise once remarked: a penny saved is a penny earned. And in times that we live today, being a little smart can help you save many of those pennies. From small to large, the most known retailers of the country today are reaching out to these discounts and deals sites to increase sales and footfalls. The list is endless.
The catch with these sites is they wait for a tipping point, as a group buying discount. You get the deal only if the tipping point reaches, else you get your money back
But obviously if I love something, I would not wait for many people to love it, before I have it with me for a discount. That’s where I feel the Amity Synergy Discounts Card wins the game. With almost every retailer across the country giving exclusive deals to Synergy Discount Card, all you need to do is to flash the same wherever you go and wallah, you will get anywhere between 10 – 50% discounts on some real useful products.
From Pizza hut to S. Oliver, Vibes to Yo! China, from Hotels in Jaipur to Book shops in Gurgaon the Synergy Card is active pan India.
A note for all those reading my blog, NO, I am not obsessed with deals and discounts but YES, I am onto my quest for really learning as to how are these companies making it so big. What are their business models and what’s really happening at the back-end?
My latest post on how I got through the Amity Synergy Card which offered these fantastic discounts was liked by many people and I also got some requests to probe in further. I hence made up my mind to go ahead and meet the team behind the idea and how they are executing it.
My Experience: Count by Count
While I met the super energized team behind the Amity Synergy Card, my first impression was a fantastic mix of Youth, Experience and a free minded and open to innovation investor. So as I went ahead understanding their strategic thought and how it all happened, I found it very interesting to know the story behind how it all started.
Good to know that this is not a card which initiated as an influence from many others in this domain
They started in-house and did a proof of concept at Amity University, which obviously is a behemoth. Its in one word huge. The proof of concept was to look at how Amity students use the card and to understand the audience. And wallah, the results were astounding. Students loved the concept.
What’s the proof? Well, the 82,200 fans on facebook page is enough proof, aint it?
Hmmm, so I asked the team about how did they think about taking it further?
In one tone, everyone answered, we were sure its going to work out and we rolled the Amity Synergy Discounts card as a B2B offering. Though we are also stepping to the B2C domain. Interesting to note this.
B2B, B2C and Now its B2E!!
There are many things which companies today do to ensure that their employees are motivated and that they perform their level best at all times. Various companies have different sets of incentivized structures which keep the employees engaged and motivated to perform. The Synergy Discount card makes a lot of sense here. If you reward an employee telling him, that almost whatever he purchases from now on, will be discounted, obviously he will be happy. You are a smart organisation if you are helping your employees save money when everything around seems to be only rising up in price.
Interestingly Synergy Discounts card has some very interesting examples of how its Co-branded with various medium sized companies and how it has worked out very well for them, the companies and the employees.
For Start-ups and SMEs its Makes Most Sense
The Card according to me makes much sense for start-ups and SMEs. Whether you are a services or a products business. Interesting discounts on everyday products that you buy obviously makes for a great return on human capital happiness investment.
How Can You Order This Card for Your Company?
You can actually send an Email directly to Abhishek Pandey at: apandey2@amity.edu and the rest gets taken care of.
Drop in your experiences and comments about the Synergy card and any other interesting ideas you might have of usage for the Synergy Cards team. I’d be happy to forward it to them!
Though I personally don’t freak out in shopping malls daily, but obviously things change after marriage you know (kidding). In the recent times I have been going through this strange phenomena which is written large on many faces, which is, do you have a deal? Almost every market that you visit in Delhi, you can find every other person negotiating with the shopkeeper and asking for a discount. Now that’s obvious human nature.
Hmmm, great so we are talking discounts here!
Yes we are. But I have a thought to share, while I am sure you all must be seeing these deal sites pop-up from every nook and corner of the globe citing great exciting deals from your city, there is not much value. Tell me how many people would really be looking at a great value from getting a tattoo on some part of their precious body at a discount. Interestingly I know the statistic, there are many. The super excited youth of India.
But can’t we put in some real value driven sense in discounts?
When I say value driven, let me put my case forward. I represent the emerging youth of India who have a newly found buying power with them. I am someone who works hard and harder to achieve an aspirational level for me and my family. Obviously the aspirations keep touching new levels with time. Now for me, I really am not wanting a deal for a tattoo OR a 5% discount on a coffee mug. Neither am I looking at a dine out extra happy hours or a beer free!
What I want is to make my life happy and easy!
I am married and hence have a family to take care of and I am a consumer who is a target audience for many brands out there. So why don’t these deal sites understand that I need to see value in their deals and that just by 2 SMS’s each day on my cell phone, I won’t make a buy decision?!
The Game Changer is here: What I’v experienced in the last week!
The Game Changer is here. Last week I went for a fun night of bowling at The Great India Place Mall at Noida with couple of pals. Interestingly what I saw was a register where people were writing something down with a Golden color card in their hands and they straight away got very interesting discount on their games.
The Magic of Discount: the Revelation!
What was revealed about the card was that it came from the stable of one of India’s largest business clans. Its the Amity Synergy Card. Dwelling further, I was amazed to see what was present online! The Synergy card (which I was not really much aware about initially) has more than 61 cities Pan India covered. Go to their website and you will see what I mean and why I just got eexcited enough to mention the brand on this blog!
Did I Order a Card for Myself?
Yes I did. And yes I did not take it just like that. I went ahead and used the card and wallah. In the past 7 purchases that I have done, I have already gotten my value of the card for which I bought it for back. Hence my ROI in terms of getting back the investment I made has been received.
Has the Team Been Good at After Sales?
Obviously before writing this blog, I did my diligence and tried contacting the Synergy Discounts and Coupons team through their site and wallah they did respond back in time.
What’s So Unique, Why Did I Not Write About GroupOn India’s Office?
Why I did not write about GroupOn or any other discount scheme is because the discounts which Synergy offers me is logical. I know the places I generally go to in India and they are all there. The biggest USP being, that Synergy is the only card which has discounts on rooms in almost every major hospital in India. Not happy about it, but lately I have had to roam around Delhi hospitals for a close relative, and I know how quickly cash gets burnt when you step into an Apollo Hospital. A 10- 15% discount on rooms spells a saving of close to about INR 2500 for 2 days!!
How do I Get this Card?
Since I like sharing on this blog, only what I really feel excited about what I experience in my life, I think the Synergy card makes much sense with the value driven deals. I got it online simply through this link: http://synergydiscounts.com/GetSynergyCard.aspx
Have fun getting deals and saving more and for all those married men, guys here’s your thing, to keep your woman happy!!
The Youth! Yes! that’s what this one is all about. The Youth Marketing Power Panel by TiE Delhi- NCR was recently announced and has already started garnering some good response from all quarters.
Another event on marketing: NO
This one comes with a difference (as they all say, but this one does). For records, there is a Taxi Driver from Varanasi as one of the awaited speakers and I am not kidding about it. I have confirmed news from many in-house sources
And not just that, though this is not a public news, some of the Power Panel speakers, I have gotten to know about are major names in the Industry and have proven their might with innovative products and service offerings which have powerfully engaged the Indian Youth.
The news of the event is all around on the TiE Delhi- NCR Official website, facebook, Linkedin and twitter and its buzzing with action on all accounts.
Where is the event and How do I register?
The event is to be held on 13th may 2011 at the PHD Chambers of Commerce, August Kranti Marg, Hauz Khas, New Delhi. Registration is simple, all you need is to click on this link: REGISTER HERE! Currently the only mode of registration for the event is through online payment.
Would I get to network?
Another one of those internally confirmed news that I keep getting, the event will host the one of its kinds, speed member mixer, wherein you will be allowed to meet the panelists one on one with a 30 second pitch of your business. Who knows you might just crack the lucky pot!
Can I see who all are coming to the event?
This is a public news, so I can surely say, yes you can. All you got to do is, become the part of India’s largest entrepreneurial network called: Entrepreneurs-Ship, where you have to RSVP for the event and once done, you will be able to see who all are coming to the event and hence pre-network with them!!
Though its been quite sometime that Iv seen a bollywood flick on the silver screen, but this weekend, I found the time just right and to take a flight into a world away from the usual life, Iv chosen to watch the third show of Tanu weds Manu tomorrow as it releases.
While I was getting the tickets booked online, there sure came an interesting thought. Its the Cricket World Cup time and this time around especially when the action in in the sub-continent, releasing a bollywood flick sure is a cracker, which may burst and make a ot of sound or it might just fizz out.
Thinking about the same I looked around to find out the logic behind the thought of releasing a movie during the CWC, when most producers and distributors fear that their movies may not get the kind of viewership, as expected.
Even before I did, I looked around online, as to what exactly is the response to the movie, pre-release on Social Networks and well, here are the statistics:
YouTube: one of the most popular videos (trailers) of the movie has: 233,276 views
Official facebook page: 64,273 fans
There is enough buzz online if you do a basic Google search!!
But does this buzz indicate a successful Box office hit? Well, not really! In the past there have been couple of not so successful attempts on releasing bollywood flicks during either crucial game time OR during national festivals and religious days, but the success rate has been pretty dicey.
A little birdie (source: aka: a friend, in the business of movie making) who is also close to analysts revealed that many initially believed that releasing TWM would be a step wrongly taken at this time of the year, but the producers were confident about the content, its quality and the fresh pairing which has worked wonders. The movie in its trailers shows every part of India which the viewer would see and say, Ohh Iv been there!
Nothing fancy about the movie, love and marriages have been subjects of bollywood movies before, but the way its been presented during the peak marriage season (taara chadha hua hai) as they say, I think is sure going to work positively for TWM.
Content wins the game
The key which I wanted to share with this blog post is the quality of content and the way its been positioned and propagated. The key here is content. The movie has a “real life” subject. Characters which you can almost relate with like your cousins in real life. Packaging the movie as a fun ride full of comedy, romance and laughter, for a couple of hours is sure going to give the much needed breath of a fresh ‘pair’ to the Indian cine goers.
And since there has not really been a movie which has touched cine goers with this fun lately and many disappointing releases have donned the Box Office, TWM has its stars bright.
I’ll post the review of the movie tomorrow after seeing it, as a comment to this post with my ratings out of 5, till then here’s the official un-censored trailer:
"We thought we understood social media marketing and seo optimization fairly ok but after our one on one session realized many of the fundamental mistakes we were making plus learnt many new tools. Overall an investment I would recommend every entreprenuer to make"
- Nidhi, Founder CEO, Pinnacle Works
he he..
