The unique identification number could have invaluable information for the marketer as well..
The UID could, if so utilised, shine some light on the life of the Indian consumer, making the marketer's job easier.
With the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) putting together a database for India, how do you see its use in marketing terms?
Rajan Sampath, Mumbai
Rajan, the UID is a track and trace. A track that is much more detailed than any other we have had in the past. Here, in one single format, we will have a rich source of every demographic. It can prove to be a social, economic, religious and, hopefully, even a sociographic tool of significance in the long-term.
For the marketing professional, such data if made available commercially (which I doubt it will be), can be a rich resource to add to the decennial census of India data, the IRS and such other consumer and media data being garnered in the country.
For marketers groping in the dark, the UID could be the first big torchlight throwing light on the life of the Indian consumer. Currently, this consumer is largely an aggregated statement and a mysterious and much maligned one in terms of keen-focus understanding.
Is the UIDAI a snooping tool at large in our lives?
Malavika P., Hyderabad
Malavika, we live in an era of “big brother is watching you”. This is inevitable. George Orwell told us this in his work of fiction many decades ago. This is becoming a reality today.
Only the future will tell whether this is going to be advantageous or disadvantageous to the people. And none of us have seen this future!
Overall, I do believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Sometimes, even snooping tools are good for society at large. What helps achieve the larger good must be lauded.
With 3G round the corner, how do you see the telcos reacting?
Women giving fingerprint impressions on a digital machine at a special booth set up for the Proof of Concept phase of the UIDAI project at Patancheru in Andhra Pradesh's Medak district.
Gopi P. Mahapatra, Kolkata
Gopi, 3G opens up a whole new world for the marketer at large. For brands, 3G means the consumer can be reached in seconds across a network. It also means that static marketing programmes will give way to dynamic, on-the-go mobile platforms. Your consumer need not be rooted to an office, a home, a school or a college anymore. Your consumer is everywhere and is reachable all the time. And, reachable with real-life experience sharing platforms in real time. Mobile-advertising (M-advertising) and Mobile commerce (M-commerce) are the adjuncts to this revolution. The mobile handset is now set to morph into what it can actually deliver, offer, activate and monetise. Expect a lot of advertising for sure. The ability of 3G to enable person-to-person videos and mobile video calls can link permission-based advertising directly to consumers. Marketers will be able to play out advertising messages to select audiences. It will also be possible to segment audiences on the basis of their ARPU (average revenue per user) with a mobile operator. What's more, what's dished out can be specific, targeted and customised. The personalisation of advertising to suit individual needs, wants, desires, aspirations and affordability indices are a distinct possibility now.
Expect brands to send out advertising postcards in video format. Expect brands to dish out coupons that are tailor-made to customer needs. The possibility of the “electronic wallet” application will open up a lot of options for advertisers wanting a piece of the pie.
Players in the financial space will make good use of this. Insurance, retail banking, online trading, betting-sites (of the legally acceptable kind) and service providers of every kind will run for this kind of advertising first. The high-value churners will advertise first in a meaningful manner. Everyone else, including sundry FMCG, durables, et al, will also advertise. But this will be more to be on the medium than for the reason to milk the medium to its utmost. The creativity of advertising agencies, brand-consulting outfits and media-efficacy audit agencies will be stretched to the maximum. And that is the joy of 3G. It brings zing to an otherwise rather standardised advertising market that has remained largely the same for the last four decades.
How do you see Brand IPL emerge from recent events?
S.R. Agarwal, Delhi
Agarwalji, Brand IPL will go through change. First, it will display a more participative kind of leadership. The new Commissioner is not a Lalit Modi. The Commissioner, IPL in many ways is the ambassador of Brand IPL. This leadership change will display a more sedate and less ‘in-the-face' leadership.
Second, I do believe speed of decision-making will be compromised. Everything will undergo a lot more scrutiny than ever before.
Thirdly, most decisions will come into media focus only after they are baked to perfection by the IPL decision-making committee. To that extent, many decisions and approaches will be media-shy.
The new business model ahead will be more corporate-governance oriented. It will be careful and pre-decision making scrutiny-oriented. The economics will remain strong, provided none of the murmurs about the outcome-fixing rumours come true and are proven. To an extent, Brand IPL will be stronger and would have emerged from the typical indiscipline of early-entrepreneurship stage to a more disciplined and clean-governance oriented corporate stage.
(Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Email: askharishbijoor@gmail.com)
Rajan Sampath, Mumbai
Rajan, the UID is a track and trace. A track that is much more detailed than any other we have had in the past. Here, in one single format, we will have a rich source of every demographic. It can prove to be a social, economic, religious and, hopefully, even a sociographic tool of significance in the long-term.
For the marketing professional, such data if made available commercially (which I doubt it will be), can be a rich resource to add to the decennial census of India data, the IRS and such other consumer and media data being garnered in the country.
For marketers groping in the dark, the UID could be the first big torchlight throwing light on the life of the Indian consumer. Currently, this consumer is largely an aggregated statement and a mysterious and much maligned one in terms of keen-focus understanding.
Is the UIDAI a snooping tool at large in our lives?
Malavika P., Hyderabad
Malavika, we live in an era of “big brother is watching you”. This is inevitable. George Orwell told us this in his work of fiction many decades ago. This is becoming a reality today.
Only the future will tell whether this is going to be advantageous or disadvantageous to the people. And none of us have seen this future!
Overall, I do believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Sometimes, even snooping tools are good for society at large. What helps achieve the larger good must be lauded.
With 3G round the corner, how do you see the telcos reacting?
Women giving fingerprint impressions on a digital machine at a special booth set up for the Proof of Concept phase of the UIDAI project at Patancheru in Andhra Pradesh's Medak district.
Gopi P. Mahapatra, Kolkata
Gopi, 3G opens up a whole new world for the marketer at large. For brands, 3G means the consumer can be reached in seconds across a network. It also means that static marketing programmes will give way to dynamic, on-the-go mobile platforms. Your consumer need not be rooted to an office, a home, a school or a college anymore. Your consumer is everywhere and is reachable all the time. And, reachable with real-life experience sharing platforms in real time. Mobile-advertising (M-advertising) and Mobile commerce (M-commerce) are the adjuncts to this revolution. The mobile handset is now set to morph into what it can actually deliver, offer, activate and monetise. Expect a lot of advertising for sure. The ability of 3G to enable person-to-person videos and mobile video calls can link permission-based advertising directly to consumers. Marketers will be able to play out advertising messages to select audiences. It will also be possible to segment audiences on the basis of their ARPU (average revenue per user) with a mobile operator. What's more, what's dished out can be specific, targeted and customised. The personalisation of advertising to suit individual needs, wants, desires, aspirations and affordability indices are a distinct possibility now.
Expect brands to send out advertising postcards in video format. Expect brands to dish out coupons that are tailor-made to customer needs. The possibility of the “electronic wallet” application will open up a lot of options for advertisers wanting a piece of the pie.
Players in the financial space will make good use of this. Insurance, retail banking, online trading, betting-sites (of the legally acceptable kind) and service providers of every kind will run for this kind of advertising first. The high-value churners will advertise first in a meaningful manner. Everyone else, including sundry FMCG, durables, et al, will also advertise. But this will be more to be on the medium than for the reason to milk the medium to its utmost. The creativity of advertising agencies, brand-consulting outfits and media-efficacy audit agencies will be stretched to the maximum. And that is the joy of 3G. It brings zing to an otherwise rather standardised advertising market that has remained largely the same for the last four decades.
How do you see Brand IPL emerge from recent events?
S.R. Agarwal, Delhi
Agarwalji, Brand IPL will go through change. First, it will display a more participative kind of leadership. The new Commissioner is not a Lalit Modi. The Commissioner, IPL in many ways is the ambassador of Brand IPL. This leadership change will display a more sedate and less ‘in-the-face' leadership.
Second, I do believe speed of decision-making will be compromised. Everything will undergo a lot more scrutiny than ever before.
Thirdly, most decisions will come into media focus only after they are baked to perfection by the IPL decision-making committee. To that extent, many decisions and approaches will be media-shy.
The new business model ahead will be more corporate-governance oriented. It will be careful and pre-decision making scrutiny-oriented. The economics will remain strong, provided none of the murmurs about the outcome-fixing rumours come true and are proven. To an extent, Brand IPL will be stronger and would have emerged from the typical indiscipline of early-entrepreneurship stage to a more disciplined and clean-governance oriented corporate stage.
(Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Email: askharishbijoor@gmail.com)
