In an Ignitee-IAMAI event, V Ramani, who was one of the panelists referred to some old conversation he had had with Ishan Raina. He mentioned that Ishan had always urged his people to differentiate between the urgent and the important. And that struck me as a super cool statement.

So often, we are caught up in what is urgent that we overlook and ignore what is important. It is a different and more impactful way of saying ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’. For example, if a child is crying for an expensive toy and that is provided to him because he is crying, it is addressing the urgent as against the important. What is important, in that case, is to not give in to tantrums and handle the situation in a different manner, even if it means rebuking the child.

In work, particularly in the Sales function, there have been numerous instances where we have been inclined to accept deals that bend the rules that we have set for ourselves, in an effort to meet our Sales numbers. Because the revenue at that point of time is an urgent need. These rules could be centered around discount percentages, minimum order values, taking campaigns live without sufficient lead time, etc. We obviously don’t want to lose the business and making small adjustments everytime should not be frowned upon, right? Wrong!

I have realised that it is more important to focus on the IMPORTANT. You might have to say no to some offers and it might result in some short term losses but in the long term, taking a stand and doing what is important helps. We have experienced it that holding on to our position has led to both improved revenues and improved rates. And what is more is that an example is set in the market and we don’t have to bend rules ever for those clients.

Of course, nothing is ever cut-and-dried and taking a stand has to be balanced with being (or at least sounding) flexible by giving in to some issues that do not matter in the larger scheme of things.

That is a balance that one needs to maintain.

So I was among the elite (I should consider ;-))who were like who is who in the business to have gathered to what looked like the most sought after event in the corporate world. I got there on time, bang at 6:30 PM at The Taj Land’s End and pretended to be busy on my Blackberry, something I had to do simply because I knew no one in that elite world where suddenly I was thrown in.

The invitation in itself was a surprise and further to that the whole aura of the people gathered there and the discussions that were happening made me look hapless within myself, so I had little choice but to look here and there to check if I knew any faces at all with whom I could have indulged in a conversation but unfortunately I knew no one.

By making myself look busy on my Blackberry replying to some unwanted emails, I hit the bar to get some scotch for company and then walked around in this world of super achievers sensing the pride of corporate India within me. I read things about people who had won over the last 10 yrs, read about the jury and some bright quotes, which made me think hard on some of the stuff I have been doing and how similar thoughts actually are within the gamut of activities one does in this world of entrepreneurship.

So 1 hour passed and bang at 7:30PM the event began with the Master Of Ceremony beginning the show. It began with some wonderful AVs that in itself brought in goose bums in my system and then one line caught my attention in a big way. Actually till then I hadn’t ever checked the dictionary to check out the meaning of what “Entrepreneur” means simply because we all know what it means however when the AV said what the exact meaning was, I was taken aback. Its a French word that means, “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business”. Now there is so much more to the word in today’s understanding that sometimes this meaning means nothing. Entrepreneur means so much more outside of this in today’s world, it means someone who has the vision for the future, it means someone who has the ability to take risks, it means someone who has the balls to go the distance on a conviction, it means someone who knows how to do business with considerable initiative, it means someone who understands optimal gain though knowing very well that there is a huge risk in the undertaking, it means someone who has all the wherewithal to go by what his passion says and it means several other things attached to doing business, right?

I could now relate and boy I could now relate and well well well I now can relate in total.

So the event began with some eminent personalities like Digvijay Singh, Ex-Sebi Chairman - Damodaran, Rajiv Mamani, Country Managing Partner, EYI and some other dignitaries. Welcome speech, address speech etc etc happened and I was holding my breath for the award function to begin and just before all this I was actually figuring out where I would be sitting and I was told, I could take any seat leaving the first 3rows and while I was gazing I took one extreme left corner seat close to the stage and off course next to the bar and next to me where some important people, Gautam Saigal, Madhusudhan Menon, Ashvani Srivastava and more eminent personalities like Harsh Mariwala, Anand Mahindra, Vandana Luthra and some more were sitting.

I was wondering - wow, I am amidst all of these people who have built large scalable businesses ranging between 3yrs to 25yrs and some of these have turnovers of over 1000crs in just 5yrs of it’s existence. It just shook me up in total and I knew I wanted to be in their shoes sooner than later. Building a 10-15cr organisation in 1yr has given me all the confidence of making a large business out of this sombre beginning in the next 5yrs. It might be through this business or it might be through some new stuff we may do or it might be something thats revolutionary but I was sure we would do it.

Coming back to this event, there were 17 nominations for the Entrepreneur Of The Year and there was 1 Life Time Achievement. The latter was something that was close to my heart because it was going to be handed over to Mr. Vagul, Executive Chairman Of ICICI, the visionary and the man who transformed what ICICI today is and more so because he and my dad were once close friends during my father’s banking days. Like Vaghul, my dad was the youngest GM of Bank Of Maharashtra and was considered a serious candidate for many government banks by the Governor of Reserve Bank as it’s top honcho, it’s a different story that my dad moved out of banking to become an entrepreneur.

So the finalists were Amit Mittal, Sanjeev Narula, Tapaas Chakravarti, OP. Bhatt, VRS. Natrajan, M. Venugopalan, Amit Patel, Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi, DB. Gupta, RC. Juneja, Vandana Luthra, Hardeep Singh Bedi, Vikram Akula, Harsh Mariwala, Pankaj Patel, Shashi Shetty and Anand Mahindra.

All of these people come from diverse backgrounds, humble childhood but had that great vision, which today is contributing to the society and is transform the way we consume any of the products and services coming from their stable. Whether its a Sintex or whether its a Parachute or for that matter even a automobile, these people have really made things happen.

First the honors for various categories were done and all of the above finalists won something or the other and then Mr. Vaghul was awarded the life time achievement award, his speech was impeccable and I had this huge euphoria inside me as if I was getting the award - LOL. As he came back to his seat, I mustered guts, walked up to where he was sitting, congratulated him, introduced myself, handed over my card and then used my father’s name to get him interested in talking to me and boy I had the best 3mins post my interaction with Chris Gardner in Palm Springs while at Yahoo in early 08. It was brilliant to say the least!!!

Then the time came and the winner as we all know now was Anand Mahindra, for a man who has transformed Mahindra & Mahindra to a formidable force by taking those mega risks, backing a young designer’s thought of a Scorpio, which has turned around the fortune of this company to taking that bold step of acquiring Satyam; I think this man was the deserving winner. The whole elite crowd stood and he had a standing ovation, it was a supreme feeling to have been part of this ovation, the claps still linger in my ears as if its still happening. Brilliant, congratulations Anand Mahindra.

So we all walked back into the Land’s End and while walking back, I spotted Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and I knew I had to speak to him so I slowly walked besides him and removed a card of mine and said hello. He never acknowledged - LOL, but I was not going to miss this opportunity to get introduced, I was determined as hell, 3 hellos later he looked at me and his phone rang and he said one sec. I continued walking with him and as he finished his call, I said 30secs we could talk as we walk :-). Gave him my card and told him what we do. He heard me out and said he will stay in touch, that was enough for me, while I am not seeking anything from him, I just wanted to ensure he knew me and my company and my objective was achieved.

Further I just kept walking with all the winners not knowing that they are headed to a winner’s lounge - LOL. Because I kept walking unknowingly with all these biggies no one stopped me and I was suddenly in this lounge where there were media personnel and just about 18 families and man I knew I had come to a wrong place but what the hell, I wasn’t going to leave without a few congratulations to the winners. So first I congratulated Anand Mahindra and then struck a quick conversation with Vikram Vakula - Founder of SKS Micro-Finance, I had to meet him, he has done what otherwise would have been thought as impossible in our country and his company is rewriting the art of financing, what a brain and the story he told about what inspired him to do this was even more mesmerizing to say the least! Can you think of this - 11500 Crs dispersed @ 99.5% repayment rate, which financial institution might be having such a record? Man awesomeness!!!!!

So my rendezvous with who is who ended here and I walked out forgetting that I had been dropped at Taj and had to find my own way back to my guest house. I felt so cheap to walk out and catch an auto but thats me, I dint bother to think twice to take an auto. Maybe one day I win this award and still travel by auto from the award function.

Cheers
Ram

Always begin your marketing plan with a one-page summary of the circumstances and principal recommendations contained in the plan. Situation Analysis describes where your company stands at that moment in time. It includes background on past sales, major competitors, and explanations of recent sales and profit results. It should also feature a forecast for the industry, including opportunities and threats and some mention of the company’s strengths and weaknesses versus the competition.

Every company has objectives. They are simply a matter of deciding where you want to be and when you want to get there. Is the purpose of your marketing plan to launch a new product or line of products? If so, your objective should be something like this. To achieve 10 percent market share within the first 12 months of product launch. Strategies are the things you need to do to accomplish your objectives. If your objective is where you want your company to be, the strategy is the route you need to take to get there.

For example, if the objective is to increase sales revenue, your strategies might be one or more of the following:

1) Increase the average price on all units
2) Increase overall sales volume
3) Sell more of the higher-priced units
4) Any combination of these

Tactics that are deployed to ensure the desired results could be as under:

Whereas strategies establish a broad outline of how you want to achieve your objectives, tactics are specific actions. “Increase awareness among potential customers” is a strategy. “Develop a brochure to send to new prospects” is simply a tactic for implementing that strategy.

Of course, each tactic has a price. Add up all that you plan to use and you know what your budget must be to achieve your goals.

These are some of the key elements that one needs to look at when creating a marketing plan for any product or service.

Its such an amazing feeling on the journey thats been such an experience. After 16months of us beginning this venture, we have proved our mettle, not that it ends here, this is just the beginning of what we have set out to achieve and recognition is an automatic progression when you are successful.

One such events happened yesterday. NetworkPlay won it’s maiden award handed over at The Indira India Innovation Summit in Mumbai. NetworkPlay is, “The Best Innovative Start-Up Of The Year”.

It squarely is a recognition of the people in this company who are putting every effort to defy all possible odds and come out victorious and I want to dedicate this to the team at NetworkPlay, they rock and it showed.

Super stuff guys, keep rocking

10th February 2010. A usual day in itself, I thought, but for the fact that 3 friends of mine on Facebook had their birthdays. I sent them the customary birthday wishes and was getting about my work.

But hey! There was something special about the day professionally. Ram was making a presentation to the Gen Y in the Global Youth Marketing Forum at Taj Land’s End in the morning. Ram had worked on the presentation, with help from Sandeep and the thought was about presenting the story of 3 screens (Internet, Mobile and TV through DTH) to the youth. As expected, due to the shifted paradigm in content (other speakers kept talking about internet and internet only) and due to the delivery, which Ram is famous for, the presentation was a super duper success. To the extent, Ram was actually told by the co-ordinator that his presentation was the most captivating. Wow!

While this was happening, there was another whammy of a mail that came from Sandeep. Networkplay was also getting its single largest RO so far. Due to the efforts of Sandeep, Harmeet, Mukesh and Pallavi, we managed to crack a new client. So the atmosphere in the office was that of jubilation.

And the best was yet to come. We were also headed to Land’s End again in the evening because Ram had been nominated to receive the “Star Youth Achiever Award” by the Global Youth Marketing Forum, recognized by the CMO Council and the news was that he had also won the award.

We all headed to Land’s End getting all goose bumpy because this was the first nomination that Ram had gotten as an entrepreneur and because he had won. The awards, started a little late as was expected, which was very well for us because we were also stuck in traffic.

Finally the awards started and as the awards were called out one by one, our heart beats quickened rapidly. We were also handed a few whistles and hooters, which we religiously blew for other winners as well but when Ram’s name was called out, we went berserk whistling and hooting. I blew my Sunil chhaap rowdy whistle, two fingers in my mouth too, which I had reserved only for Ram’s award.

Click, click, click, went the photographers and it gave me a feeling of joy because they were click-happy for Ram. Congratulatory emails went out informing the teams in Delhi and Bangalore and return emails flowed back. The feeling was totally overwhelming.

After a quick round of drinks, (we had to drink, to toast Ram’s win) and dinner, we all left feeling happy.

PS: We were wondering if we would make it back in one piece since Isha decided to get behind the wheel and drive us back. A lot of heart lurching jerky brake applications and sharp turns later, we did make it in one piece and that is why I am writing this.

Was watching Dance India Dance, a dance reality show on Zee TV last week, which features Mithun Chakraborty as a Mahaguru. He, other than three choreographers, judges dance performances by participants who are competing for a Golden Hat that would declare them the next Dance India Dance star. Interestingly, whenever Mithun likes a particular dance performance, he gets up from his seat and salutes the dancer. What is amazing is the aura, which is now built around this salute. Dancers are overwhelmed with joy when Mithun gets up from his seat and does the customary salute. More than anything else, this is one thing that each participant aspires for after each performance.

Likewise, in different reality shows, Saroj Khan has created value and made it aspirational for contestants on her show to either get a whistle (the rowdy kinds, with two fingers in the mouth) from her or be called up to her and be given a hundred rupee note.

Which goes to say that the smallest (and perhaps, the most unrelated) of gestures, if coming from the right source can add immense value to the whole experience, be it in a reality show or otherwise.

Made me wonder a few things:

1. Are any of my clients evaluating my company and also others and making some such gesture in the market with the others and I’m not aware of it? I should be and I should make sure these clients make those gestures with me too.

2. Can I create some such gesture for my clients and differentiate myself from others that clients / agencies aspire for?

3. I am a manager too and is my team looking for some such gesture from me that would motivate it more than the usual carrot and stick approach would?

Food for thought.

Last couple of days have been quite eventful for the distribution side of the business at Networkplay, not touching up on sales which as usual keeps touching new heights m-o-m & q-o-q.

First, we confidently managed to renew our relationship with Bookmyshow which was not available for advertising for couple of months due to site revamp. The same is now back with many brand engagement options.

We followed it up by announcing our agreement with Greynium Info for exclusively monetising India inventory on their horizontal - Oneindia.in and other regional websites like thatstamil.com, thatskannada.com, thatsmalayalam.com, thatstelugu.com, thatshindi.com & thatscricket.com.

It’s indeed a great addition to our offering as we always felt the need of having a partner who can help us reach out to the masses and give us the requisite reach within the Indian internet landscape. The site attracts in excess of 3Mn unique visitors every month and is growing at a rapid pace. Networkplay has taken the mandate of changing the site perception in the market and position it for brand advertisers targeting the affluent youth in the country.

Networkplay bouquet of offerings now reaches out to 33%+ of the Internet audience in the country.

I take this opportunity to thank the management team of Greynium for having the faith in us!

Keep following this section for more such updates..

Cheers/

As indicated by one of my competitors on they having exclusive rights to Bookmyshow.com for monetising their advertising inventory, through this blog I want to put to rest that Bookmyshow continues to remain with NetworkPlay as exclusive partners and we are accepting orders starting now.

There was a lull in between due to the revamp of the site but with the new site up and running now there are some fantastic opportunities of engagement which my sales team will get across to you all.

Look forward to continued relationship for all clients who have had the taste of Bookmyshow.com and looking forward to a lot many more new ones with a lot of vibrancy through this online ticket booking engine site, which has the highest traction in ecommerce in India through its transactional audience.

Go NetworkPlay Go!!!

Languages fascinate me!

Oh, by the way, this is a 12+ and a ‘prude-minus’ blog. Read this only if you are above 12 and not a prude.

So, languages fascinate me. The syntax, grammar, the special characters (or the missing characters) in some languages, the whole thing is very interesting.

Syntax and Grammar: For example if I have to translate “Kahan Ja Raha Hai?” in English word for word in the same order, it would be something like, “Where going are?” And the ‘you’, which is redundant in Hindi is not so in English. The gender is determined by the ‘Raha’ or ‘Rahi’ in Hindi, whereas with the question, ‘Where are you going?’ it is impossible to determine the gender.

Missing Characters: The letter P does not exist in Arabic. They use B in place of P. So Pepsi is written as Bibsi in Arabic. Similarly, the letter H is missing in Tamil and they use G instead. So Mahesh is Magesh. The flip side is that these are additional letters in English over these languages. Likewise, there are some letters missing in English found in other languages like Urdu, Sindhi, Marathi, Malayalam, etc.

Anyway, the main theme of this blog is how the same word means different things in different languages (or jargon). And here is where the 12+ and ‘prude-minus’ begins.

Talk to a Punjabi or a Sindhi and he will smirk knowingly when you mention the word Gui because it means ‘butt’ in vernacular slang. But speak to an IT guy and he will think of it as GUI, which stands for ‘Graphical User Interface’.

Also, wrt the title of the blog, ‘Susu’ in Malay (yes, fresh knowledge after my visit to Malaysia) means, hold your breath, ‘milk’. So a glass of Susu means a glass of milk.

Also, fuck (or a different spelling of it) in Sindhi means taking medicine. So when I say ‘Gory fuck’ in Sindhi, it means ‘Take the tablet’. And I don’t even need to translate what it means in English.

Similarly, ‘fakta’ in Marathi, which means a hramless ‘only’, sounds dangerously close to ‘Fuck the’ in English. It is a very popular anecdote that an Air Hostess had once asked Sharad Pawar if he wanted Chicken with Rice or Roti and he had said ‘Fakta Chicken’, which the Air Hostess took serious offence to thinking that Sharad Pawar had mouthed the obscenity.

I will drink to that. Susu anyone?