Gauravonomics Blog

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Quick Summary: At the Effective Consumer Engagement conference organized in Mumbai by the World Federation of Advertisers, I realized that Indian CEOs/ CMOs still don’t understand consumer engagement in a networked world.

I had great fun yesterday live-tweeting the Effective Consumer Engagement conference organized in Mumbai by the World Federation of Advertisers (tweet). I must have received 20+ reactions to my WFA conference tweets yesterday (tweet) and we would have had some great conversations if my mobile phone had tabbed browsing: one for typing tweets on Twitter, the other for tracking @gauravonomics replies on Terraminds (tweet). My friends Ashish also live-tweeted the conference, making it probably a first for a mainstream non-tech event in India (tweet).

As WFA has its Executive Committee, AGM, and Board meetings in Mumbai today, more than half the speakers and delegates at the conference were from outside India. This provided me an opportunity to experience first hand if CEOs/ CMOs in India approach consumer engagement differently from their international counterparts. It turned out that they do.

Quick Summary: Participate in Microsoft’s Makeover My Office contest and get a free makeover for your home office.

Microsoft India is running a really cool web 2.0 (-ish) contest called Makeover My Office, where the first prize is a free home office makeover package. The makeover package will include one Office 2007 Professional Edition, one Tablet PC with Vista Ultimate, one All-in-One Printer and (depending upon the winning entry) design services, flooring, paint, furniture, fixtures, and minor remodeling. There are also attractive prizes for the other entries.

But the prizes are not the only interesting thing about the contest. The contest’s web plus mobile plus television multi-media reality show format is also unique.

The contest runs in four stages –

Stage 1: Contestants upload an image of their cluttered home office and submit a 50-200 word essay describing how a makeover will improve their personal productivity and help their business. The last day of submitting entries is March 7th.

Quick Summary: Read about how to run an effective blogger review program across a wide variety of product and services categories.

Background: While blogger review/ blogger relation programs have become popular internationally over the last two years, they are virtually unheard of in the Indian context. At the @MumbaiTwit tweetup last Sunday, I was speaking to a friend about setting up a blogger review program, and decided that it will be useful to put down my thoughts in the form of a how-to guide.

Scope: In this how-to guide, I’ll focus on running an effective blogger review program, not a blogger relations program. A blogger review program is typically a tactical, short-term, time-bound campaign focused on getting bloggers to review your new product or service. A blogger relations program involves building more strategic, longer-term, open-ended relationships with bloggers who are influential in your product or service niche. In terms of applicability, blogger review programs can be effective across a wide variety of product and services categories, including books, music CDs, movie DVDs, websites, gadgets and restaurants.

Step 1: Set up the blogger review program

Quick Summary: I was quoted today in Thinking Aloud, the online magazine of IAMAI (Internet & Mobile Association of India), in a story on social media marketing in India.

I have been tracking social media marketing in India for a while now both in my brand manager and blogger avatars.

I was quoted today in Thinking Aloud, the online magazine of IAMAI (Internet & Mobile Association of India), in a story on social media marketing in India.

The article also quotes Raj Kurup, CEO of Creativeland Asia.

Here’s a quick summary of my thoughts on the social media marketing landscape in India –

- Social media marketing is a great tool for marketers to identify and redress customer dissatisfaction issue early, engage customers and citizens into meaningful conversations, and build customer loyalty at a low cost.

- In India, for most mainstream brands, social media is not yet a significant factor as of now. It is more important for reputation-based, service-oriented, consumer-fronted sectors like auto/ telecom/ financial services/ travel and hospitality. However, over time, social media will become important for all types of companies and brands.

Quick Summary: Yours truly was featured today in Indian daily Hindustan Times’ full page story on Young India Forum panel discussion on the Indian Budget 2008.

Yesterday, I was part of a Hindustan Times Young India Forum panel discussion on the Indian Budget 2008. The Young India Forum is an initiative by Hindustan Times to “drive change and reach more people more directly”.

Hindustan Times had put together an interesting panel consisting of young film-makers, entrepreneurs, and corporate fast-trackers and I had a great time at the panel discussion –

Finely tailored suits, chic skirts and fancy designations — a perfect picture of corporate India, but without the grey hair. On Friday, young MDs, VPs and filmmakers, representatives of the changing face of corporate India, got together to take part in the Hindustan Times Young India Forum. To discuss, naturally, the Budget presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

As the FM read out the fiscal Budget — his fifth in a row — clad in a pristine white dhoti, these designer-clad corporate honchos chuckled, sighed, laughed and gave their perspective on one of the biggest events of the year in India.