Connecting Social and Real Worlds

Jabong.com - a third eye view. Some good, some strange findings

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 09:11:00 +0000

Its a lazy Sunday morning and I was just sitting at home, having a cup of tea with Sunday Times. My roomie turned the television on among all crappy Sunday morning shows, one thing noticed my attention - All new online lifestyle store: JABONG.COM!

Lot of things have been written about current and future shape of e-commerce in India, and this subject being one of my favorite, I decided to do some 'khufiapanti'! While TV ad seems quite boring and uninteresting, they have managed to create a good looking product. Lot of options and filters to choose product of your choice. Messaging is simple: Free Shipping, Cash on Delivery, 30 day return policy and Free Hotline! Enough to excite an Indian online buyer.

Then I decided to go more deeper and check out some other facts about site. Name 'Jabong' means a tropical fruit. Neither logo, nor anything on site relates to Jabong fruit btw! I don't even know how many Indians would be knowing about this strange name. This led me to check traffic on site, and here are some interesting facts:

Alexa traffic rank: 119 in India (now that's impressive!)
1.6 Mn Unique visitors / month
8.2 Mn page views
More than 6 page views / visit

Some images for better understanding of traffic on site:

Site page views:

Site traffic details from Google Ad Planner:

Visitor Demographics (Alexa):

Well, everything is interesting about site traffic, isn't it? A lesser known weird name, in highly cluttered e-commerce market generates so much of traffic. I was surprised. I decided to check how much of this could be organic. I went on to check popularity of site on Google's organic search and found this:

'Jabong' keyword has very 'low' search volume and generates approx 8100 search queries on Google
'Jabong.com' is even lesser popular and generates approx 1000 queries on Google

I could not figure out exact % of organic traffic, but its clear that name 'Jabong' is not popular among people and visitors do not search for 'Jabong' on Google. So, where do they come from?

Well, here is a possible answer: Social Media!

I went on to check social presence of Jabong, and it was a sweet surprise!

Staggering 192,138 'likes' on facebook!! However, none of those is my friend :-(
11232 followers on Twitter! Btw, none of these followers in my network, again!

This brand is definitely doing some wonders on social media! Its kind of silent penetration which nobody noticed till date. I also checked if Jabong has been covered by news portals. Google News search throws only 4 relevant news items, most of which including ET, Hindu Business Line and Tech Crunch covers Jabong as just another e-commerce portal. So, Where does this site get traffic from? Paid promotions?? May be.

This led me to check origin of site and and a quick whois check revealed that domain was created in 2004 and last updated on 9th feb 2012. Even traffic data shows minimal traffic before february. So, its clear that site started operating only in february. Now, if that's the case - getting 8.2mn page views within 2 months is a huge success!

I also landed on this linkedin page, clearly suggesting they launched site 2-3 months back:

Now I strongly feel that getting such numbers organically in 2 months is highly difficult... and if you get it, you must get covered by all technology blogs and news media for sure! Question is why isn't anyone talking about it?

Also, here is an interesting finding. Google search of 'jabong' results shows a negative review on mouthshut on first page of results (written just one day ago). mouthshut.com shows overall rating of 1 star, out of 4 ratings. People talk about poor service and bad experience.

So, site's quality and 'look n feel' is nice. Site traffic is impressive and growing exponentially. It has managed to get huge numbers on Social Media profiles as well! However, some facts and figures shows different picture. Also, their huge TV advertising campaign is supported by online campaign and that should be driving traffic for the moment.

It will be interesting to see how Jabong.com fares in long run. E-commerce is game of trust service and quality. Jabong.com has a long mile to catch up on these factors. While flipkart, ebay, snapdeal and infibeam of the world are enjoying leadership position, I would love to see how Jabong differentiates and establishes its connect with consumers. Surely, there is a market for everyone and its up to Jabong.com to leverage potential of it.

Riding together Because its Ride For a Cause!

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 08:50:00 +0000

“Some ride for Passion, Some ride for Fun.” We had a different reason when we started our ride on Sunday, 18th September. This time, a humanitarian effort from Konkan Moto Tours was motivating everyone to ride. Ride For Cause – as it is called, was planned with a mission to generate support and donation for poor children. Konkan Moto Tours had partnered with Grant Foundation to generate support and spread awareness about this noble cause.

Earlier, on previous day me and Abhishek had been busy calling out all riders and busy preparing ride map. It was evening when we finished up creating final list of riders and charted out final route map for this ride. On other side, Pratish was assigned task of getting rider’s t-shirts and other printing material ready. He was to decide on mechanic who would join us for ride. Finally, as it happens with all such rides, everything seemed in order at 2:30 am. Now it was time to catch much needed sleep before we wake up for ride at 5:30.

Flag off - Ride for CauseIt was 7 am in morning when we assembled at Kalanagar Bus Stop, Bandra. There was pinch of enthusiasm in air as we met all fellow riders for first time. We saw some old faces and some new. In next few minutes, we started our briefing session for today’s ride. Finally, at 8 am, everyone was geared up and ready to rock the tarmac. We started in single rider formation and everyone followed lead rider to reach our first destination – Vitthal Kamath’s restaurant on NH17. After crossing Vashi bridge, we took Palm Beach road to reach Panvel. And I can’t say what a pleasure it was to ride on one of bestest road of city. We were cruising at 90 – 100 kmph on this bright sunny morning and I promise, anyone who saw us that morning on palm beach road, couldn’t have moved his eyes away from this troupe.

In no time, we were at Vitthal Kamath’s restaurant. Everyone had breakfast, which followed by a short introductory session. Such introduction talks are really helpful in such rides because this is only time when you get to speak to everyone on common platform. We met people with diverse experience and diverse background. However, only thing common between each of us was passion for riding. Soon, we started towards our first re group point, Pali. Pali is situated on NH 17, and it has one of most beautiful Ganesha temple in Maharshtra. It’s one of most sacred ashtavinayak temple in Maharashtra.

RIders line upRoads have been badly affected due to heavy rains this season. Elephant sized pot holes and broken tar made our journey little bit difficult. We took left turn from junction near Nagothane to go towards Pali where beautiful curves and dense trees made our journey bit easy. However, when we reached Pali, potholes had shown its effect on my bike. I realized my rear wheel was making weary noise and there was something wrong with it. Quickly, I asked mechanic to fix it and we had to open whole drum to check reason of noise. It came out that spring connecting break shoe within drum had been broken which we replaced quickly and got my bike running again. Thanks to sincere efforts of Parvezbhai.

Riders with KMT flagRoad to Khopoli was worst of whole journey. We would have taken more than 1:30 hours to complete those 40 kms. Broken roads, gravels and potholes made our journey miserable and our back aching. However, good and bad roads are part of any ride and true rider will take it as challenge. With same spirit, we completed this weary patch and reached Khopoli. Khopoli is an industrial town and we saw lots of industrial units in this area. It shows economical and industrial progress of this part of Maharashtra.

By the time we reached Khopoli, everyone was tired and bit irritated because of bad roads. Ride with KMT is not complete without experiencing Konkani food. We decided to stop over at Mauli Dhaba on NH4 to have complete malwani food experience. It was rejuvenating and refreshing experience to sit together and have truly Maharashtrian food with bunch of riders. Amazing food and gentleness of waiters made food more delicious. Finally, at 3:30, we started towards Panvel, our final destination for this ride.

Roads were now smooth and pretty vacant. Everyone enjoyed this patch of route the most and reached Panvel Naka with smiling face and joyful experience. We announced end of ride at 5:00 and everyone dispersed with memory of lifetime!

NM Incite Social Media Usage Report - Q3 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:45:00 +0000

Nielsen Social Media Report!

View more presentations from Tanmay Shanishchara.

Social Media Growth Story

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 05:44:00 +0000

Indian Govt bans Bulk SMS for 72 hours

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 14:47:00 +0000

Indian Government banned sending bulk sms and mms for next 72 hours in lieu of very important Ayodhya verdict. According to some estimates, the bulk SMS business in India accounts for revenues of roughly Rs 20 crore every month.Bulk sms is a very effective and potential communication tool for many brands. This cost effective tool is being used as marketing tool by almost all major banks, corporate, brands, public services etc.

A very cost effective and direct communication medium is now banned for next 3 days; according to popular news channels' latest tweets: @starnewslive and @ndtv. Stopping these services means, you won't get your morning news alert, your bank transaction sms, latest offer information in nearby mall and even a internal informative sms from your company (if they are using it).

On the other side, everyone knows how important is verdict about 'Ayodhya'. It's one of biggest national issue. This judgment is super sensitive in many ways, be it communal, political, cultural or historical. Surely, government is taking all steps to handle unexpected havoc after the judgment. However, I personally feel that this is more than what we can expect in a demographic country like India.

How can government cut off people from this very important communication medium? Why should all those suffer just because of Ayodhya verdict? Why should a marketer stop communicating with their audience for no reason at all? Will they ban Blogs, emailers and outbound calls, too? Are tv channels, radio stations and print next in line??

Volkswagen breaks clutter with audio ad in today's Times of India

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 05:15:00 +0000

Ask any marketer, how tough is it to break the clutter today? Any marketer would it difficult to choose among plenty of media vehicles and ad spaces. It's never easy to choose right channel and right vehicle for your brand. But, how many times we think about quality of message? How many times we think about 'idea' behind it?

I saw a brilliant campaign in today's Times of India. Volkswagen, a German automobile manufacturer has come up with this innovative campaign in today's (21st September, 2010) . A full page advertisement on last page of TOI in any other case would never break clutter. However, Volkswagen did this with superb innovation built within advertisement.

Can you think of Audio enabled print advertisement? Can you think of a print ad that sings? Well, here it is. This full page TOI advertisement speaks!! Yes, they have attached an IR enabled light weight speaker on this advertisement and as soon as you open your paper, this light sensitive speaker starts speaking! A wonderful brand message with print ad, that would surely catch your attention! I am amazed!! Here are some pics...
As they call it 'Power of Idea', I think this is power of Idea. My friends have been tweeting and posting updates on facebook about the campaign. I am sure, people are discussing it at their workplaces and among their friends. This proves, good Idea goes beyond media vehicles and ad spaces. Such innovation can become talks of town within hours!
[Photo Courtesy: Varun Attrey]

Update 1: Just realized this campaign is also on Hindu

The Old Spice Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:08:00 +0000

The Old Spice campaign - Case Study

View more presentations from Tanmay Shanishchara.

Twitter-o-Fobia

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 09:52:00 +0000

Riding Himalayas - a journey to world's highest motorable road

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:31:00 +0000

There are various reasons why an average man heads off to the Himalayas all packed-up. He thinks he will meet a sage or for that matter someone close to say; J. Krishnamurthy or Deepak Chopra who will tell him; that the journey he has undertaken to come to them would have already taught him more about life and so they do not have much to say; or something along the lines of trying to find your ‘inner self’, which frankly can be done by sitting in the bathroom for an hour. Whatever your reasons are, having been chosen to ride on the Himalayan Odyssey, I, Tanmay Shanishchara already had my head in the clouds (metaphorically and literally).

My family was the first to know and convincing my mother that it was the most adventurous place to go to with a breathtakingly beautiful landscape was easier than I thought. My dad, however, played spoilsport and introduced my mother to the land of altitude sickness, frost bite, avalanches and other such likely possibilities. So much for having a Doctor Dad! However, after taking some medical tips and suggestions from my Dad and some repetitive ones from my mom, I prepared myself to head out to the long-awaited and much-anticipated opportunity of a lifetime.

In its seventh edition now, the Himalayan Odyssey is one of the toughest and also the most prestigious rides to tackle out there. Braving varied terrains, facing changing climatic conditions and grappling with unknown challenges, we (the riders) headed off towards our destination…something that we had been waiting for so long. However, before taking off we needed to take care of a few things so that neither our own health, nor our bike’s health, would suffer during the journey.

Having taken care of that, other things needed to be sorted out which included transporting the bike to Delhi from Mumbai. Easier said than done! Filling out forms and having all the right bike documents did not necessarily mean that the transportation of the bike would automatically be taken care of. The bike had to be checked thoroughly and documents had to be signed by the right authorities. I soon realised the formula to getting one signature from any official here was a rather simple one: Requesting + Pleading + Begging x Money - Attitude = Official signature. This promptly ensured that my bike was en route to Delhi.

After arriving in Delhi, I was subjected to a fitness test that involved a tedious 5 km run at the end of which we had to demonstrate our fitness levels by doing 50 push ups. There were some riders who I suspected would never qualify but they beat my prediction and knocked me cold by completing the assigned task. Among the 62 riders present there were a few who were over 50 years old. Watching them run the five kilometres and complete the 50 push ups told me a great deal not only about their physical capabilities but also about their mental stamina.

Later in the evening, I got to know the other riders who would be riding with me through this incredible journey. There was a discussion on the kind of gear that we ought to wear. Though this information was available on the website, it was necessary to ensure that everybody on the trip was prepared. The riding gear included riding gloves, shoes that reached the ankle, knee guards, elbow guards, a riding jacket which was water resistant, rain shoes and the most important thing; so that you don’t lose your head - the helmet. The route also was explained to us. We would be riding from Delhi - Manali - Keylong - Sarchu - Leh - Khardung La - Nubra Valley - Khardung La - Leh - Rumptse - Keylong - Kaza - Kalpa - Narkanda - Parwanoo – Delhi. The plan was to cover about 200 kms per day on an average. Every morning the leaders would guide the riders about the kind of terrain they would encounter and what kind of riding style to adopt. Even Paul, the oracle-octopus would have never predicted the outcome of this eventful journey.

The trip to Keylong was a wonderful one. Keylong is surrounded by mountains and some scenic views so much so that the distracted riders forgot to pay attention to the ever dipping fuel guages. Finally, it was an Indian Oil sign board that made us all heave a sigh of relief. The ride there was dusty and we got to know that there had been an avalanche at the pass the previous day but fortunately for us, it had been cleared and we got a clean way to reach our destination which was Sarchu.

I saw the terrain change drastically. It had been a tar road all along but gradually not only had the trees disappeared, but so had the road. It was dusty, rocky and to add to it we came across water crossings as well. The roads kept winding, getting curvier and not only were we battling for air as the altitude rose, but our combat in terms of gripping the roads had also begun. Riding through water is one part of the story, but riding through ice cold water is something that neither you nor your bike is really ready for. However, the Standard 350 Enfield stood sturdy throughout. There were some who slipped, but there were no serious injuries. The bumpy roads, and the high altitude sickness had already caught up with the riders, sometimes enfeebling them, but they seemed to find respite in brandy. Finally, I can say with conviction that there is no problem that a stiff whisky or in my case a swig of brandy can’t solve (barring a mathematical one of course). That seemed to be a panacea. The next day we headed for Leh.

I had to ride 265 kms to Leh, where the roads were bad, and the climb was challenging, to say the least. The winding roads confused us a great deal. When I manoeuvred my way with the other riders and thought that I had completed roughly 5 kms, the odometer reading would show only 2 kms and remind me that I still had 263 kms more to go. Here, towards the end of a great riding day, I managed to lose my way by taking a wrong turn. I asked for directions and was relieved to find out that I wasn’t far behind and could easily catch up with the other riders.

But there was more in store. As I turned the bike, the engine stopped and when I tried to crank up the engine, it refused to start. I did the basic checks and soon realized that my phone battery too had died on me. I was without support till 7:30 pm. There were a couple of bikers who were heading to the main road from that road and they helped me tow my bike until I got some mechanical support. Soon I was with the other riders from the group. The next day was rest day and this gave me enough time to fix my bike in Leh. Another misadventure followed. In a place with hardy any human habitation, I ended up losing my wallet. That was not such a big deal because I drew solace from the fact that whoever found my wallet would have to travel nearly 200 odd kilometres, to use it.

Every single day, once the day’s journey came to an end, the riders used to spend their hours relaxing and talking about their rides. It was during these conversations that we talked about our individual experiences. Tea in the evening and brandy post dinner brought about more than just conversations. There were stories, short and some epic in magnitude but the relaxed atmosphere in which these conversations and story-telling sessions of the riders unravelled made this trip an incredibly memorable one. Even those who called themselves “introverted” spoke, perhaps, it was the brandy doing all the talking.

The next day was the biggest day of all. We were headed to Khardungla, the highest motorable pass in the world. This had been the biggest motivation to undertake the ride and this had what kept me going. Riding upto the highest point was indeed a huge achievement and everybody who had started the ride, had made it to this point. There was a sense of satisfaction and delight at having achieved this feat. One of my co-riders, Neeraj, had fallen sick due to a change in the altitude levels and the Doctor had advised him to return, but even he had managed to join us later. All of us had made it!

Like Sisyphus’ rolling stone, we headed back on the familiar road. We did not any face any problems apart from people who managed to get water into their bikes, on the way back to Keylong. We also encountered rain during our ride from Kalpa to Narkanda. A lot of leak breaks followed but we all carried on and reached our destination.

It seemed like a mere formality now to reach the other places and end the Odyssey on a good note. The next two days was just a ride past some scenic valleys, passing Shimla via Chahal and Kanda valley. Exhilarating as it was, I almost forgot about my shutter-bug and brought it out just in time to capture some unforgettable moments through the journey. On the last day, we headed for Delhi at 8 in the morning. For the first time, all the riders who started the Odyssey returned with their bikes and that too in good health (My vote still goes out to the miracle water – alcohol!)

We rode our hearts out and overcame several obstacles but at the end of each day we knew that the next day would bring something worse. My Standard 350 held fort and apart from a minor electrical failure, I did not face any other problem throughout the journey. On this trip, I made some great friends and even managed to make introverts talk. I returned with some beautiful memories and managed to pick up some phenomenal riding skills from fellow riders as well. However, the most important thing I learnt was that, man can reach great heights and is capable of enjoying the place with his head in the clouds. I was just glad I wasn’t alone at the top.

(From: Carwale.com)

Digital Media outlook report - 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Fri, 28 May 2010 05:21:00 +0000

An interesting presentation on Digital Media outlook for year 2009.Few reasons why Internet is still called 5% medium:

Almost 60% of advertising campaign's biggest objective is to create 'Brand Awareness' - I firmly believe Digital is not a medium to create awareness... it is medium to drive engagement / interactions.
Only 9% of advertisers wants to engage their audience - A reason for big No-No to Digital!
Perception of medium is another problem... None of the vertical has clear idea about the know-how of medium. A big opportunity evangelists - teach marketers what digital is!
Is mobile the next big thing? - answer is We don't know. I think industry is still waiting for a successful marketing campaign on mobile to be used as case study.
Measurement Metrices - is it really helping? or it exposes something more than what it should!

Webchutney Digital Media Outlook Report 2009

After all, We are Gujju Bhai!!

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:17:00 +0000

Just imagine… you are a director of a movie. Your first scene is that of an early morning in a town of Gujarat. Now tell me, what would you select as opening shot of this movie? Well, if you are Gujju, you are probably right! You will certainly be standing at a road side 'tea and farsaan' centre with your camera and shooting steaming hot, boiling tea. People ordering 500 gms Ganthiya and eating ‘em with same amount of chutney with an expression of extreme orgasms on their face. Yes, this is Gujarat… and After all, we are Gujju Bhai!

There is this saying in Gujarati… ‘Patel, Hotel and Motel… You’ll find these three at any corner of the world’. And mind you, this is not false. Our one and only hobby is to earn money. Yes, we are money minded and that’s why Gujarat is also called land of Entrepreneurs! If you ask any Gujju Collegian about his future plans, he’ll say “mare to amerika javu che ne millionaire thavu che!” means – I want to settle down in US and become millionaire. (After all, 1 $ equals 50 Rs. boss!) Its matter of concern if no one in your family is in USA… Nobody marries their daughter in a family which doesn’t have any foreign connection. After all, we are Gujju Bhai!

Gujjus love to speak English. Even though they don’t know it… I have seen people who without any reason try to speak English and end up speaking Engrati (English + Gujarati)! In Gujarat, it is considered that – ‘It’s ok if you don’t know pure Gujarati… But you must know bad English at least’!! After all, at least 3 of our Kakas, Kakis, Mamas, Mamis live in Amerika! Tune to any radio station in Gujarat and try listening to any RJ for 5 minutes… I challenge, you’ll probably run to radio station and offer English literature tuitions for throw away price. After all, we are Gujju Bhai!

It’t not just about Amerika or English… We love foreign food too! (Prepared as per Gujju recipe and comfortably adjusted its taste as we Gujjus like it). If an Italian eats our Italian Pizza or a Chinese tastes our Chinese bhel… I’m sure he’ll faint with an attack! Few hybrid items that we have freely adopted as per our choice: Chinese Samosa, Farali Pizza, Jain Sizzler, Jain Omlette and what not! We love butter, we love oil and most importantly, we love cheese. No wonders… be it Vadapau, dosa or Dhokla… is available with cheese at all food joints. And ya, cheese must be Amul cheese in any case. Because, cheese to Amul nu j hoy ne! After all, we are Gujju Bhai!
We love going out. We love travelling. And yes, while travelling, we always carry a bag which is always kept handy and always taken utmost care of. This bag is full of Theplas, Chunda, Chevda, Mamra, Pickles, Ganthiya, Puri, Sakkar Para, Batata nu Shak, Khakhra and at least 3 types of mukhvas. Within 15 minutes of starting train or bus, youngest member of family will ask his/her mom… ‘Mammi, pela Thepla kya mukya che?’ (Mom, where have you kept those theplas?) And in next 15 minutes, whole family will eat ALL of above items one by one as if they are having last food of their life. After all, we are Gujju Bhai!

Well, I can write a lot about food… but let’s leave that topic here. Let’s discuss drinking habits of Gujju. Ahem ahem, who said ‘But Gujarat is dry state’? Boss, ketli bottle joiye?? (how many bottles you need?) All Gujjus feel proud in drinking. It’s like matter of proving to the world that we also CAN drink. All Gujjus have personal bootleggers who deliver liquor at home. And after drink, all Gujju says, “Aapdu ekdum control ma j hoy ho bapu!!” (I’m always in control!) After all, we are Gujju Bhai!
Who says Gujjus are not intellectuals? Go to any Paanwala and network with intellectual minds out there. They are think tanks of India. They know who should be playing in Indian cricket team. They knows what Obama should do to counter terrorism. They also knows why Katrina Kaif should not marry Salman khan. We can spend atleast 3 hours discussing about nothing at any paanwala. Irrespective of whether we know the person whom we are talking to or don’t. After all, we are Gujju Bhai!

Stock market is our favorite time pass and major source of income too. In my family, my nephew learned how to interpret stock price tickers on CNBC at age of 6 years! All Gujjus feel sense of pride while talking about Harshad Mehta or Ketan Parekh. A chaiwala outside any office is expert of stock market and probably can give you better advise than Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. Yes, we know stock market Bijnesh. After all, we are Gujju Bhai!

The passion of Gujjus for money, the undying spirit and most importantly, the what-goes-of-my-father-attitude gives us thrust of earning money. Entrepreneurship is in blood of all Gujjus. We are optimistic, we are fururistic and we always calculate money before doing anything. We don’t give a damn to anything. That's why Gujjus are so prosperous and Gujarat is called land of opportunities. After all, we are Gujju Bhai!

The Art & Science Of Video Virals

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:28:00 +0000

Make Me A Viral: The Art & Science Of Video Virals

View more presentations from Mindshare.

Star Majha Junior Anchors

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:07:00 +0000

Mobile Journalism

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:19:00 +0000

Came across this nice presentation... thought to share it!

Mobile Journalism

View more presentations from Xu Xiaoge.

MeDigit News pack

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:33:00 +0000

MeDigit News round up:

What's social score of your #brand? http://cli.gs/7Mjtph #socialmedia
New Russian Investment values #facebook at $6.5B http://cli.gs/5EJ7vN
5 most important features of #ms-office 2010... http://cli.gs/mH9P0U
#microsoft #bing riding on growth... sees 8% increase in unique visitors since launch.. http://cli.gs/W35H4z
15 year old says teens are abandoning #twitter... are u listening?? http://cli.gs/7GU0sJ
#VAS asia 2009.. many challenges for #mobile market. http://cli.gs/zGR4z4
Online friedns are like banner ads! only 33% of us trust them. http://cli.gs/jLEXpH
#unitedbreaksguitar... this is how you damage brand's reputation online... http://cli.gs/HtzTnZ
Future of media moguls... http://cli.gs/JSNn35 | #twitter #rupertmurdoch

MeDigit News Pack

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:48:00 +0000

largest Layoff in Indian news media http://cli.gs/DT54ZN
Indian Govt Bans popular Toon pornsite savitabhabhi.com http://cli.gs/VDeyuL
Comviva to manage Bharti's VAS Business for next 3 years. http://cli.gs/qD10Bj
KPMG mobile study in India - Insights for mCommerce, Mobile TV, music and gaming. http://cli.gs/avqp1D
Some facts about Twitter... http://cli.gs/JZm3YG
Stronger, faster and promising! Product reviews as marketing tools: http://cli.gs/ETaubs
9 tips for search engine friendly web design: http://cli.gs/UmDpev
SEO - DIY... http://cli.gs/3JgzqG
Reputation management on twitter. http://cli.gs/86tnaB
Rakhi Sawant rocks GEC!! New show generates Cracking TRP: http://cli.gs/uQRYpE
Fingerprinting of cybercafe customers will become must for mumbai: http://cli.gs/NB6yrX
MTV promotes new show via FB application: http://cli.gs/PbNWeh
'DELETE' campaign from Hyderabad police to tackle cyber crimes: http://cli.gs/0YNUqU

Mobile Marketing - Putting Power in hands of consumer

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:05:00 +0000

With more then 410 Million mobile subscribers in the country, India is riding on the wave of telecom revolution. After television, mobile has become most promising and potential tool to reach roots of Indian market. Mobile screen has attracted attention of marketers and everybody is now targeting mobile screen as potential marketing vehicle. Potential is tremendous and opportunities are unlimited; what is required now is knowledge of medium and strategy for success.

Let us understand what mobile marketing exactly means and how this new medium is becoming so promising. If you ask me what mobile marketing is, I would say: ‘mobile marketing is utilizing wireless media to provide highly targeted and personalized product information to consumer on their mobile handset which results in generating value for both consumer and marketer’. I call it highly targeted and personalized medium because of the characteristics which mobile as a vehicle offers. Mobile is very important as a marketing tool because of its capability of generating value for both consumer and marketer. Let’s see how:

Personalization
Mobile provides potential for personalization, because it carries the user’s assigned identity. If marketers employ mobile devices for their advertising activities, they can use consumer feedback to customize their messages and offerings and collect information about consumers’ preferences to improve future products and services. This provides an exceptional advantage for marketers, since it enables them to reach their potential customers in a very individual way and thus increase the relationship with the user. Users are receptive to advertising that is personalized and relevant to their lifestyle.

Interactivity
Interactions between consumer and marketer are most important for any marketing communication exercise. Mobile as a medium provides cheap, handy and personal tool for feedback and interactions. Consumers are more receptive towards communication which values their opinion. Also, mobile advertising can react very fast to customers’ feedback just like internet advertising.

Mobile is not like TV, where you have basically fixed time slots, neither is it a print medium were there are limited space selling options. The breadth of data services is remarkable and growing almost daily. Here are the biggies, and a few options of how mobile advertising can be used:

SMS
Texting is by far the most popular non-voice usage of cell phones, and for this reason many companies have started their mobile efforts there. You can use SMS in a variety of ways. Customer relationship management, Promotional offers, interactive SMS are some of these. Apart from these, marketers also use SMS to increase customer involvement by contests, votes and polls.
The possibilities are tremendous but marketers have to be sensible about it. An SMS is very intrusive. If your messages are incessant, you’ll tick people off quickly.

Ringtones, Wallpaper, and other mobile games
Ringtones and Wallpapers are very efficient tools. These options are likely to interest most of consumers as they are actively seeking for such services. It gives a platform for brand experience for the product or services you are marketing.
Games can also be very profitable, though a key challenge here is developing a game that works on a broad swath of handsets. Mobile games appear to be an excellent tool for targeting youngsters.

Mobile Search
Mobile search works much the same way as web search, placing prominent paid search listings. Mobile search is an ideal option for retailers because targeted mobile search campaign will surely give more return on marketing investments as mobile searchers are more likely to be ready to buy than someone using a PC. They are out and ready to walk in your door.

Mobile Banners
Mobile banners are graphical ads, just like web banners. They are usually purchased by CPM or CPC. There are many mobile ad networks out there which provide effective targeting options. Targeting on mobile world includes: Contextual targeting, Demographic targeting, Behavioral targeting and Geographic targeting.
Another thing to think about when you consider banners is what action you are trying to drive. Actions that you can drive are more promising and effective than those on webs banner. Some of the key options are:

1. Click through to a mobile site
2. Click to call, i.e. when the user clicks on the banner, they automatically initiate a voice call from their device to the number. This will likely improve response rates versus communicating a telephone number that the user will have to enter into their phone
3. Email capture
4. Ability to send an SMS (text) message or (less common) an MMS graphical message

Measurement metrics are impressions delivered, click through rates (CTR), click to call rates, Email capture rates, and the like.

Full Screen Graphical Ads
With technological innovations, mobile now offers options for lots of add on games and applications. Sponsoring such applications and games can become another option for your brand.
Sponsored game or application will entitle you a full screen graphical presence on pre- or post-application usage. These within applications can drive users to other sponsored pages in the application, click to email capture, click to call, or click to send MMS or SMS.
Because phone sets have different screen sizes, such full page sponsorships will likely require you to make more than one creative size for your message.

Own Applications
With iPhone opening doors for application developers and Nokia jointly with Symbian working on doing the same in near future; days are not far when marketers will have easy access to application developers. A variety of developers will help you create an application specifically for your brand. Consumer receptivity to such an app will depend upon its utility.
One of the key marketing strengths of building an app is the opportunity to create a persistent consumer relationship versus fielding impressions. User can use a good app on his phone again and again and which will offer hundreds – even thousands of brand interactions which marketers can leverage to build your consumer connection.

Mobile Widgets
Widgets have grown tremendously in popularity, and a subgroup of mobile widgets is growing strongly as well. While widgets are applications, they deserve a separate discussion because they tend to be easier to develop and because new standards are making it still easier to create compelling mobile widget experiences. Some of widgets offered by service providers are:

1. Local Search
2. Email
3. Photos
4. News
5. Sports
6. Finance
7. Entertainment
8. Weather
9. Cell Phone Coupon

A detailed discussion on mobile widgets on some other day….

Yeah, He is in to Technology!

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Who do you think this person could be??

Please Vote!

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:03:00 +0000

Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves.

This time, use your vote to liberate yourself
from
Those 'hand' which stop your growth
Those 'flower' which doesn't allow you to flourish

Choose right candidate.
VOTE FOR INDIA

The Twouble with Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 05:01:00 +0000

Intellegent Video. Will let you think how fool we twitter users are!

HCP calling entrepreneurs

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:54:00 +0000

Highland capital partners (HCP), a VC firm from US is seeking potential student entrepreneurs to partner with. This is their 3rd annual summer entrepreneurship programme. Company's vision is to tap entrepreneurs at early stage. Nurturing young talent and making successful entrepreneurs.

This 3rd annual "Summer@Highland" programme is scheduled for 10 weeks. Budding entrepreneurs will get a chance to work on their business plans and they will be paid stipend. There will be an opportunity of receiving VC funding if your idea is proving results. And the best part is, you are under no obligation after summer.Teams can have up to 4 people and will be given the option of working in the VC firm’s Menlo Park, CA or Lexington, MA offices. Stipend amounts range from $7,500 to $15,000, depending on how many people are part of the team.

Follow these links for details:

HCP's site: http://www.hcp.com
Summer internship programme: http://www.hcp.com/summer
Apply here: http://www.hcp.com/summer/apply.php

Android powered HTC Magic to be launched by April

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:07:00 +0000

A tipster points out to Phandroid that the Vodafone website confirms the Android-powered HTC Magic, recently announced, is arriving in April.

More...

Flock ditches Firefox, moves to Chrome

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:37:00 +0000

Flock, a social focused web browser is one of most popular social web browser in open source firefox browser. As per news coming from TechCrunch, next flock will be built on Google's Chrome platform. Flock has achieved 6 Million number of downloads and USD 30 Mn funding within 3 years of operations. Popularity of Flock as a browser is very low and it doesn't have significant market share; even lesser than netscape.

The reasons speculated for this migration are: lesser attention by Mozilla to develop this browser any further and ease of operations with Google. However, recent comments from Flock CEO Shawn Hardin reads like this on Tech Crunch:

I was responding to your email from only a few hours ago when I saw your article. It’s important to clarify a couple of things. We haven’t ceased development efforts on the Mozilla platform. Our upcoming release of Flock 2.1 is built on the Mozilla platform. Having said that, the browser space is heating up, and we’ve seen a variety of exciting technologies emerge over the last several months that are appealing.

We always have and will continue to make architectural decisions that balance what’s best for our users and what’s best for Flock as a business. This has resulted in a healthy, growing user base and business for Flock, and we expect this to continue in 2009. In fact, with over seven million downloads almost entirely from word of mouth, Flock enjoys a highly satisfied user base with consistently over 92% customer satisfaction, very strong net promoter scores, and an average of four hours of usage per day.

With a continuing focus on user-centered browser innovation, our team is in active research and development on a range of exciting new enhancements to Flock. It is still far too early to comment on anything specific, but we are very excited about this design phase…

Microsoft launches AdNetwork in India

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:10:00 +0000

Microsoft launched its online ad network, DrivePM in India. DrivePM has already tied up with 25 indian websites and running 28 campaigns.

It is interesting to see many global giants entering online advertising market in India as the market is maturing. Online ads occupy very less share of advertising spend pie in India. Typical ratio is around 3-5.5 % compare to 10-20 % in matured countries.

http://www.alootechie.com/content/microsoft-launches-its-online-ad-network-drivepm-india

New Push SMS Services

noreply@blogger.com (Tanmay Shanishchara) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:24:00 +0000

After MyToday and SMS Gupshup, many new service providers are joining the crew by adding bulk push SMS services to their portfolio.
Aletrix, free SMS alert service from Spot On Media, a subsidiary of ValueFirst offers alerts on Career Tips, Cricket Trivia, Health / Fitness Tips and Inspiring Thoughts.

ibibo sms+, allows small businesses to send SMS at cost as low as 0.10 Rs. ibibo's rate card here.

SMS is generating revenues and also provides good setup for small, targeted and engaging advertising. I hope to see many other players in this arena soon!