Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace

He was the father of computing. And she was his devoted assistant. Charles Babbage, born to a London banker on December 26, 1791 met Ada Lovelace (nee Bryon) when she was just 17. Both of them shared a passion for mathematics that defied normal. Babbage as a young scholar worked on Newton’s mathematical concepts, toyed with calculus, even founded the Royal Astronomical Society. But by 1820, he was involved in engineering a calculating machine – the Difference Engine – that would change history. The machine compiled multiplication tables – marking him the world’s first programmer. His thoughts then struck upon on what is based the modern day computer – the Analytical Engine – which could perform several numerical functions. Unfortunately, few believed in it enough to invest, and it exceeded the technological prowess required then.

Ada Lovelace had, however, become a dear friend over the years. Born in 1815, she was the daughter of a romantic poet Lord Bryon, who left his wife Anne Isabelle Milbanke within a year of marriage to bring up Ada alone. Anne fought deliriously to ensure the young girl didn’t become a poet and pushed her into mathematics. Her inborn creativity, however, was hard to contain and burst in the form of a design for flying machine in 1828. However, such pursuits by women in her age weren’t welcome, but her friendship with Babbage gave her the much needed intellectual stimuli. Married to the Earl of Lovelace, Ada understood Babbage’s work intimately.

When an Italian mathematician wrote about Babbage’s Analytical Engine, she was entrusted by Babbage to translate and fine tune it. She articulated Charles Babbage’s work better than anyone else, and saw it as an everyday computer. She described “the engine [is] the material expression of any indefinite function of any degree of generality and complexity” and even foresaw digital music! The disciple died of cancer at a ripe age of 37, much before Charles, but his work lived through and her notes founded the computing era.

One for the King and cheers for the Countess!

Got my mojo working, aha!!!

With all eyes set on her, Nooyi should focus her efforts at getting more fruitful acquisitions

So what if Indra Nooyi earned derision from the Americans after her (in)famous ‘Long Middle Finger’ speech at the Columbia Business School? She could still boast about the unstinted support she has received from the top brass at PepsiCo. No wonder she is now the new CEO at Pepsi. That’s quite a journey for the lady from Madras Christian College who is now set to become arguably the most powerful woman CEO in the world. After all, she will lead a company that tops the list (in revenues) among 11 Fortune 500 companies led by women CEOs. And yet, the accolades also conceal challenges that Nooyi faces. The most significant would be matching the track record set by her predecessor Steve Reinumund, who led the $32.6 billion conglomerate since the year 2001. Reinumund has masterminded a net earnings growth of 70% and an 80% rise in Earnings Per Share (EPS) since 2001, not to forget an m-cap crossing the magic mark of $100 billion. His enduring legacy will be the fact that Pepsi’s market capitalisation raced ahead of Coke’s once when he was leading the Pepsi troops. Can Nooyi better that?

Having served at global giants like Boston Consulting Group, Johnson & Johnson, Asea Brown Boveri Inc. and Motorola Inc., Nooyi, no doubt, has the pedigree to improve upon Reinumund’s legacy. Reinmund asserted, “Indra’s record of transforming PepsiCo speaks for itself, she’s been an invaluable partner and ally throughout my time as CEO. I am convinced she’s more than qualified and clearly ready for her new role.”

But what about the critics who doubt that her success story will run smoothly for long? Well, she has certainly silenced critics in the past. A typical instance was in 2001, when she successfully reduced the asking price for Quaker Oats. Wall Street applauded the manner in which the then CFO of Pepsi saved ‘billions’ on the $14 billion deal. The icing on the cake was the health drink Gatorade that has helped Pepsi dominate the rapidly growing sports drinks market. Nooyi has engineered over a dozen acquisitions in 12 years at PepsiCo including the $3.3 billion takeover of Tropicana. Nooyi also worked on the restructuring that created YUM, the umbrella brand now controlling KFC, Taco Bell & Pizza Hut.

The task that lies ahead of Nooyi is to ensure that Pepsico’s principal businesses (Frito-Lay, Pepsi-Cola, Gatorade, Tropicana & Quaker foods) perform to potential with a special attention on PepsiCo’s market share of carbonated soft drinks, which has fallen by 0.3% in 2005 to 31.4% (a Beverage Digest survey). She must also spearhead more and more acquisitions for Pepsi to remain ahead. Also, expansion of businesses in African and Asian markets (with revenue growth of 14% & 11% respectively) are the key. And speaking of Asia, Nooyi faces an immediate dilemma with the pesticides controversy in India, resolving which would need more than mere financial wizardry.

Nooyi’s ascent to the upper echelons of power in America Inc. has been through sheer hard work and determination. Although the challenges are enormous, the fact that Nooyi has seen Pepsi through some of its toughest years (as colas have declined in popularity ratings) makes her the right person for the job. Only, pointing fingers is bad manners, a lesson she must not forget.

Airtel

A single ad can change your destiny. Don’t take our word for it... ask Airtel!

While Reliance may be catching up in the race for number of subscribers, Airtel is clearly far ahead, so far as strong positioning and poignant advertising communication is concerned.

But then Airtel has a legacy of churning out rock-solid advertisements since the very beginning. And April 2006 saw the mother of them all making a debut on your telly tube: The blockbuster ad evoking strong emotions from momentous occasions! The visuals transcend from Mahatma Gandhi’s Quit India Movement to Winston Churchill showing the victory sign after the allied forces defeated the fascist one; from Sachin Tendulkar’s dismissal by umpire Shephard to Martin Luther King delivering his famous ‘I have a dream speech’, and so on... The typed graphics are equally moving – ‘two words can bring down a regime’, ‘two can win a world war’. The ad ends with ‘That’s the power of human expression – Express Yourself.’

“Airtel has long been a clear leader in the telecom business, and has behaved as a leader should,” beams K. S. Chakravarthy, National Creative Director of Rediffusion DY&R, who along with his team created the ad. The commercial evoked a million goosebumps, tugging at heartstrings with the overwhelming images of emotions it showcased. Dubbed the ‘Madras Mozart’, maestro A. R. Rahman composed the distinctive music for Airtel, which is by now a household jingle.

No file footage, mind you!

And if you thought that the creative brains relied only on file footage to produce this masterpiece, you’re dead wrong! “Except for four shots (Sachin, Churchill, Martin Luther King and Lata Mangeshkar), the film painstakingly recreates historic moments that changed the course of history,” says Chakravarthy. Visualise the recreated images of Gandhi’s Salt March, the tranquility of the monastery, the formation of the peace sign with numerous candles, and you realize the painstaking craftsmanship that has gone into this one.

The TVC is years of sweat and blood reaching fruition for Chakravarthy and his team, many of whom were also responsible for the original Express Yourself commercials from Airtel.

Chakravarthy elaborates on the tornado of tangles he had to face while shooting this ad: “The really difficult part was not the actual shoot, which in any case was spread over many days and locations, with stills being shot simultaneously. The tricky part was getting permissions and clear ances from the celebrities,” he explains. Airtel’s Express Yourself plank has really served it well in the past too, and this campaign has managed to elevate its positioning way above other competitors. More power to Mittal!

Next time, don’t even dare to ask someone: “Log Chlor-mint kyon khaate hain?”

Chlor-mint

“Log Chlor-mint kyon khaate hain?” is the innocuous query posed in general to the entire world and the results are earth-shattering, mildly speaking that is... That’s the concept behind the entire Chlor-mint series from McCann-Erickson. “You see, it is a continuing idea” remarks Prasoon Joshi, the creative m astermind behind the ads.

The latest commercial focuses on the same zany logic, wit h the victim this time being Ms. Pappi. The commercial begins with Miss Pappi who is preoccupied with her looks, engrossed in getting her make-up right and busy admiring her beauty in the mirror while her family calls for her repeatedly. Irritated, she proclaims that her posters will one day be put up in every household.

While preening to herself no end, Pappi is seen humming as she enters the lift where she finds a Chlor-mint wrapper and grumbles, “Log Chlor-mint kyon khaate hain?” It is mayhem unleashed next, as the doors of the elevator pound her into a poster when she tumbles out of the lift!

“We had to suspend the logic as to why someone is having Chlormint, and if you didn’t know the answer you would be punished for it! It is the absurd logic that worked and became the language and grammar of the brand,” offers Prasoon.

Interestingly, the commercial has a background ‘thumri’ score sung by acclaimed thumri singer Shubha Joshi, with hilarious lyrics, “Roop ki dhani hoon main, Prem kali bani hoon main.” Prasoon recalls the initial effect that the combination had on Shubha Joshi. “She went blank when I told her to sing this particular song and gave her the lyrics. She was very uncomfortable in the beginning and I had to convince her to sing it in her inimitable ‘thumri’ style!” he says.

Talking about the truly funny moments during the filming of the commercial, he chuckles, “When we were shooting, some relatives of the actors would come and ask us as to what we were doing? I said that the girl in the commercial would be turned into a poster inside the lift and they would be bewildered, having a ‘What do you mean?!’ look on their faces!”

Prasoon says that from the outset, the image he had in mind for Pappi was someone hopelessly in love with her own self and overstuffed to the core.

“The idea might surely sound absurd, but if we turn around, we witness bizarre incidents. If we see Hindi films, we show people dancing around trees as soon as they fall in love. Now, is there a logic to it?! But it has worked well for film-makers for years now,” he says, adding that products are bought solely on recall value and impulse.”

Yet another master commercial from Chlor-mint! With the incomparable Prasoon Joshi the brains behind it, this one’s turned out to be one of the most recalled ads of this year.

Of Marketing, Relationships and Relationship Marketing!

Bollywood embraces the 4th P, as films transcend conventional space…

Star power is no longer confined to the realm of the cinema reel. Bollywood’s increasingly aggressive efforts to market its offerings with media blitzkriegs and nifty merchandising, is fast turning these tactics into auxiliary elements of the movie marketing mix.

In the new millennium, it began with the Hrithik-Esha starrer Na Tum Jaano Na Hum and the eminently huggable tote stuffed toy ‘Tutu’, and while the film washed out before you could say ‘Tutu!’, Tutu did not; more than 80,000 units were lapped up by moony-eyed teenagers! Good-spirited affection rose to the fore again, with bands of friendship cementing bonds of love with the Yash Raj production Mujhse Dosti Karoge; whose fresh division Yash Raj Films Merchandise is solely meant to focus on this aspect. From Hum Tum cartoon strips in newspapers preceding the film’s release, as also in popular TV soap Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin, to bags and caps, their strategy proved as humungous a hit as the film itself! Salaam Namaste promoted the trendy coffee mugs from which Preity and Saif slugged, and later slugged it out, in the film. And as this year’s most anticipated flick hits theatres, pre-launch for Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, or KANK as the watchword has spread, has invaded news channels to youth music channels, to key-chains, pens and mugs, as the producers left no stone unturned in doing as much as they KANK!

Savoury or not, could leveraging relationships to arouse interest lie far behind in the marketing match? Neither novel nor outmoded, clubbing couples speared by Cupid’s arrow in real life on screen has met with success and failure in equal measure. While real-life twosomes like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder in Hollywood, and closer home Raj Kapoor and Nargis, Amitabh and Rekha, John and Bipasha have figured in box office wonders, there have been disasters aplenty too – J. Lo and Ben Affleck (Gigli), Aishwarya Rai and Viveik Oberoi (Kyon! Ho Gaya Na), and to an extent Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapur (Fida, Chup Chup Ke) – to name a few.

It’s not amour alone though, that can captivate crowds. Take for instance the grapevine hinting of the subtle rivalry between Big B and King Khan. Throw in rumours of disagreements in footage time given to Junior B in KANK, and the launch of its music once for vacationing SRK in London and later for Bachchan at the IIFA weekend in Dubai, these folks sure catered to our appetite for juicy gossips!

So there lie the three golden caveats… one, any publicity is good publicity, two, as far as relationships go, it’s the prospect of thrill rather than the actual story, and finally the universal truth – relationships and marketing may forge the emotional connect but sensible content’s the definitive ingredient for business at the box office!