WHY DID WE NOT ACHIEVE 100%: TN Elections 2016

WHY DID WE NOT ACHIEVE 100%

To my knowledge, one of the best election campaigns conceived and implemented  across TN. The beauty of this campaign from the Election Commission, conceived by my friends in OPN was, it not only triggered the electorate to think, but it also made a whole lot of corporates, retailers, individuals, media to promote voting. Never ever one who would have seen this kind of promotion :

-         Celebrities doing dubsmash

-         RJ Balaji’s witty Video

-         Pothy’s bags carrying “Vote 100%” branding

-         Aavin Milk packets having “Vote 100%” branding

-         Radio Channels doing their bit

-         Road side promos

-         Prabhu Deva’s big hit song

-         Traffic signal promos

-         Wall Posters by Atikramya architects (perumpulli)

-         Bus backs / Autos

-         Television / Print / Cinema

-         Facebook / Twitter

-         DRA Squarefeet Subbu talking on Vote

-         Akshaya’s vote campaign in TOI

-         And  many more

This is a fantastic communication case study where a lot of brands/ corporates have come together towards one cause : VOTE.

But the surprising part despite of this mammoth effort is we have not performed well as regards to voting, we have more or less achieved the same number as last year. Other states without such communication efforts have performed better. Having been in the business of communication for over 25 years I am sure minus this campaign the percentage would have been far less.

The reasons and solutions for poor voting could be:

1.     Scheduling the poll date on a Monday and announcing it to be a holiday. People have taken that long weekend excuse and flown to different destinations. Next time promote postal ballot.

2.      Summer holidays for children would have triggered a lot of native place holidays. Next time promote postal ballot.

3.     Politicians and the money catch, EC being far too silent and no demonstrable action.

4.     Some districts suffered from a sudden down pour.

5.     Longer queues in city booths people seeing it returned back. Increasing number of polling Stations. Reducing the verification process ( We have a slip, our photo is there, the election officials have a list, they can see our photo and we are standing in front and they still ask us for an identity card is the height of stupidity and time consuming)

6.     The decreasing faith in our democratic system, worrying but true. Reformation in the party’s poll promises and eligibility to contest.

Micro analysis immediately from the Election commission to find out the reason for not voting, a research exercise across the voter list which is easier now could help find reasons. May be election commission could do an SMS research or through Voice response system to people who have not voted and why. This will help in finding out the poor polling percentage across Chennai and the remaining parts of Tamil Nadu.

100cc bikes:evolution

Evolution of Bikes in India

In 70s we had Bajaj Vespa, Bajaj Chetak, Bajaj cub... And i remember an exciting booking session for a new model of scooter Vespa XE and a failed launch of the same brand.

Then came the launch of Hero Honda, Kawasaki Bajaj, Yamaha RX100, Kinetic Honda, Ind Suzuki, Enfield Explorer.

Ind Suzuki later became TVS Suzuki and then we saw the birth of Suzuki Samurai ( The no problem bike!).

Suzuki launched a much more powerful five gear bike in Suzuki Shaolin.

Yamaha launched Crux in the late 90s to capitalise on the lost Yamaha franchisee.

TVS launched Victor

Hero Honda was the only consistent player in this whole game till 2011. As they parted ways with Honda. Now its just Hero.

Kinetic Honda was the only button start, now we have almost every 100cc bike/ scooter with a button start

KRD Rice

Packed Curd Rice 

Hatsun launched a very interesting product "Curd Rice" in the market and attempted distributing it across all Arun Ice cream parlour outlets and later on into other retailers. The product was very tasty  as Arun's milk strength was leveraged very well. The product had a good media support with actor "Prakash Raj" endorsing the product named as "KRD rice".
I think product distribution issues and later on manufacturing bottlenecks pulled the product down from the markets. If i could recall specific issues were:

1. Arun Ice cream outlets were closer to colonies and not close to office areas, as the product was targetted at Bachelors / office goers etc., the availability was critical

2. Freshness of the product was questioned as consumers wanted it to have packed that day and hence it couldnt go beyond chennai. However in the rural and semirural, making  a consumer to buy curd rice would have been a bigger challenge.

3. 
I dont remember exactly, but i felt there was a pricing issue where in it was charged at Rs.25 per pack.
http://www.buzzar.tv/product/hatsun_krdrys

"Arjun Amma yaaru (who is arjun's mom?)"

4.5 Milk

Tamilnadu was taken by storm with this interesting set of teasers that flashed around during the early part of the millennium. The story was, Arjun is a very bright kid and an allrounder so to say... everyone wants to know who is his mother? 

An interesting take and a great introduction for a celebrity "Radhika". She comes in and does the product introduction of Arokya 4.5% fat milk. This communication was very fresh for the milk category. Bates was the agency that conceptualised this and the brand owner Hatsun Foods ( Arun Ice Creams). Arokya became synonymous to high fat milk. So much so that consumer still refers it as 4.5 milk (nallarai paal).

The downside was Arokya's other milk variants like low fat milk, 2% fat etc., couldnt succedd as consumers branded Arokya with 4.5%. Hatsun later launched the other milk variants under the brand name "Hatsun".

Brands love their products

Brands over a period starts loving the products and hence cause a major hurdle for product and brand extensions.
Britannia the brand loves biscuits and hence will be a flop with any other product. Cadbury, Horlicks, Boost, Kissan, failed with biscuits.

Pond's failed with soap, deodorant, toothpaste, nosestrips, etc.,
Maggi failed with pickles
Nirma failed with all they launched:toothpaste, salt, cosmetics etc., he changed the cosmetic soap to Nima and recovered
Cuticura launched deos and failed. Now they have a soap under the name
Liril couldn't survive beyond soap-had a lime talc
Axe deos were a hit. But not the talc, soap etc.,
Denim entire range of men's cosmetics failed
Cinthol range to be evaluated as they have just launched
Max ice cream from wall's was a hit but not the confectionary range

Firsts

Firsts

1.ICNET was the first email service provider in the country
2.Velvette was the first shampoo to have come in sachet
3.Arun Ice Cream was the only ice cream brand to have exclusive over 100 ice cream parlours
4.Sterling Holiday's was the first holiday timeshare brand in the country
5.Spartek was the first vitrified floor tiles in the country
6. Maxworth Orchards launched fresh vegetables store in chennai and it belonged to Sterling
7. Docomo was the first mobile service provider to launch per sec billing
8. First television to launch Picture in Picture (PIP) feature was Videocon
9. First claymation adfilm in India was for Amaron batteries
10.Citizen Washotex was the first Washing machine to have launched in India
11.First branded jewellery was by Titan under the brand name Tanishq
12.Citibank launched the first credit card business
13.Rexona was the first deodarant in the country
14.AR Rahman endorsed a brand for the first time : AIRTEL
15. First private airlines were from NEPC and Damania Airways
16. Hatsun launched Curd Rice in packed form to be available across outlets
17.Hatsun launched milk with 4.5% fat under the brand name Arokya
18.Parachute launched branded coconut oil
19. Translektra launched  "Good Knight" mats to fight against mosquitoes
20. Sun TV was the first private television channel in tamil, with programmes only in the evenings
21.NDTV was the first English News Channel
22.Kothari Pioneer was the first private mutual fund
23. First Television with built in Video cassette player

Finance and Tamil Nadu

Finance and Tamil Nadu

Overseas Sanmar, Harita Finance, Sundaram Finance, Cholamandalam Finance, TVS Finance, Ashok Leyland Finance, Dugar Finance, Alacrity Investments, Eswari Finance, Royapettah Benefit Fund, Devi Jewellers, Bharti Gems and Jewellery, Anubhav Finance, Ramesh Cars, GNS Nidhi etc., were some of the companies who were actively soliciting deposits and were promising lucrative returns. A very few mentioned above were concentrating on safety and did not go overboard in advertising and returns. There were these aggressive ones such as Bharti Gems, Devi Gold, Eswari Finance, Royapettah, Ramesh cars, Anubhav etc., painted the town with all colors and promised 32% returns for FD. Consumers were attracted through multimedia campaigns and finally didnt get their principals back. The big gainers were some agencies and a few media houses. Their contribution to the world of advertising in chennai was very high, i could still remember a few interesting work,
Overseas Sanmar : Life is too wonderful to be spent worrying
RBF : Let your first expenditure be saving (read in tamil as thangal mudhal selavu semippaga irukattum!)
GNS : sponsored SUN TOP TEN movies
Eswari : had some interesting bill boards
Harita : Brought out a lot of unique mobilisation drives named "Grihaprevesham", "Paalpayasam" etc., They also launched the then popular "Harita Man" and focussed on service.
Sundaram Finance : Stubborn on not advertising, their brand reminder was their popular yearly Calendars






Sunda