Smart consumers double as brand advertisers

Brands are fighting harder than ever for customers cash and even more importantly, their loyalty. They do this by offering club memberships and various other loyalty card schemes. But if customers have to be hooked, they need to fall in love with the brand, so that they can rave about it to others.

There is a category of customers who do that really well these days, over social media platforms and they are called by different names - like mavens (by Malcolm Gladwell in his book 'Tipping Point') and prosumers (an amalgam of proactive consumers) in a report done by Euro RSCG.

In an earlier report 'The Empowered Consumer in the Age of Globalization' that was published in 2002, they highlighted the following points:

– Prosumers pass it on. The urge to pass on information and opinions to others is the absolute defining core of Prosumerism. No wonder Prosumers become hubs of information and opinions.

– People consult Prosumers. They are much more likely than average consumers to be
consulted for tips and recommendations.

– Prosumers don’t forgive and forget. Nobody likes a poor product or service
experience, but Prosumers dislike them more than most.

– Prosumers consult widely, then make up their own mind. They typically gather information widely for the material they need to decide on their own; they experiment even if they sometimes make mainstream conclusions.

PS: Graphics are from the 'Prosumer Report - The Second Decade of Prosumerism'

Causes celebres and celeb endorsers

Celebrity is a double-edged sword. One becomes a household name because of fame and then your every word and action is up for public scrutiny. Well, there is a saying that, if you can’t take the heat, then you should step out of the kitchen. So, it must be assumed that celebrities can put up with the heat and the glare of the spotlight.

But what celebs say and do are two different things – as is with every one of us. We rarely follow up on our convictions if they prove to be too inconvenient, and celebs are no different. In fact, they have the advantage of using their celebrity factor to spread a good word, or endorse a product or even tout a social cause. Some of them do it with a genuineness of purpose, while others do it for the publicity. And this thin line is blurring fast. People like Angelina Jolie and Madonna even adopt babies from poor countries, and put their feelings and money, where their mouth is.

In India though, not all celebrities are like actress Asha Parekh who built a hospital for everyone’s benefit, or like Salman Khan who built an old age home. And except for Sushmita Sen and Raveena Tandon, no one has adopted kids. But a number of celebs in India and abroad have gone into the business of feeding us, by starting restaurants. Some of their ventures have gone bankrupt as well – like enterprises started by Amisha Patel and recently Eva Longoria. These endeavours are for-profit but what about the non-profit causes which need donations of money and time?

This is where celebs usually donate time. So we have Pamela Andersen, Aditi Gowitrikar, Celina Jaitley etc taking up a stance for PETA. We have Gwyneth Paltrow talking about veganism. A whole lot of them will sport red ribbons for World AIDS Day and pink ribbons to raise breast cancer awareness. This trend is only just beaten by all those LIVESTRONG rubber bracelets that all of us – mere public – get to buy, to feel we have done our bit for cancer. The only difference is, we put down cash for it, while most celebrities are looking for freebies in lieu of their time.

The irony is that whether Aamir Khan promotes tourism in India for the Tourism Board or Amitabh Bachchan does it for Gujarat, the fact is that they are urging and cajoling us to spend our hard-earned money. So, when causes are being espoused by celebs, I think it is fair to ask them how much of their money is invested in this charity/NGO? I see film stars who promote causes that closely gell with the plots of their films. Someone who does this really well is actor Aamir Khan. He talked on behalf of Kashmiri Pandits only around the release of ‘Fanaa’. A fact that didn’t go unnoticed by a Kashmiri Pandit activist and filmmaker Ashok Pandit, who actually asked the very valid question that where had Aamir Khan been all the while, when they were being displaced by militants.

He has been the more visible face of campaigns like Earth India, Teach India, Lead India and Incredible India, and more power to him for this, but staying out of politically and emotionally charged issues that you may have had personal opinions about but don’t really know much about, may be in his best interest. The reasons are simple – as a celebrity, his word may be taken as the gospel truth by many and then twisted out of context by others. This happens to Salman Khan a lot.

Salman Khan has started a ‘Being Human’ social cause, which seems to be a smart move for an actor always caught on the other end of the spectrum from the boringly proper Aamir Khan and the even more media savvy Shahrukh Khan.

While some actors do their bit, what have been our actresses up to? Well they seem to be lagging behind their male peers. A whole bunch of them – Sushmita Sen, Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee and Karisma Kapoor – walked the ramp to raise funds for the ‘Being Human’ cause. But on their own, they seem to do precious little. May be, they have written that anonymous donation cheque or two – as do the rest of us.

But except for Shilpa Shetty, who did an AIDS awareness campaign with Richard Gere and helped raise £63,000 for a London charity – the Silver Star Appeal – which runs mobile diabetes assessment units, there is a surprising lack of news on what causes and initiatives our Bollywood beauties stand up for.

The two exceptions are actress and model Gul Panag, and model and tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi’s ex-wife, Shwetha Jaishankar. Gul Panag, a former Miss India and an actress who is carving a niche for herself in off-beat films like Nandita Das, is the public face of a family foundation, which has been set up in honour of her grandfather Colonel Shamsher Singh. This foundation gives out micro-loans to people in rural India, to give them an economically sustainable livelihood. It also has programmes in the areas of gender equality, the environment, education and disaster management. Go here to learn more – http://www.colshamshersingh.org/

Shwetha Jaishankar has started an initiative called – A lot of Dreams- where anyone can go and bid for celebrity collectibles across categories like sports, literature and lifestyle and the proceeds go to NGOs like Deepam and the Association for India’s Development. Go here for more details – http://alotofdreams.com/

The above examples feel like fulfilling ways of giving back to society, rather than just walking the ramp for this or that designer, who just happen to have a tie-up with an NGO, like CRY, Shiksha, World Vision etc. This is what most of our actresses associate with – merging fashion with a needy cause. How enduring such a match is, is anyone’s guess. After all, I do remember getting Greenpeace videos in my e-mail starring Mini Mathur, Kunal Kapoor and Cyrus Broacha – all of them advising me to do my bit for global warming. I got their message but I want to know how they contribute beyond mouthing pithy warnings to the rest of us?

What is well known is the number of brands most of the celebs endorse. Now when the two merge conveniently – brands and causes – more of India’s heroines may rush to be noticed for their social work, even if it is just for publicity.

Written for The Viewspaper

A site that lets you test drive a dream job

iReboot helps make your transition to a fresh start easy by connecting you with the right professionals and actualizing that dream occupation.

Did you have a dream that you tucked away in a closet? A very good poem by Langston Hughes called ‘A Dream Deferred’ is worth a read because it tells you that deferred dreams could rot, stink, fester and become a load. So, what if there is someone who lets you connect with your passion and convert it into a career? Such a person can be your mentor at work or a business personality who is your role model.

But now there is an enterprise called iReboot set up by Mukta Darera in April 2008, to allow people to get a feel of their dream job and drive away those Monday morning blues. iReboot enables those who have not yet discovered their passion to discover themselves. As for those who know what they would love to do but are not sure about how to take the first step, it helps them take a weekend test drive of the career with experienced professionals from the industry.

This career reorientation idea was a bootstrap venture started by Mukta to “enable people to explore their dream careers.” This software engineer, who worked at Intel before she started iReboot, explained that her desire to help other people achieve their dreams was what motivated her to start this venture. “I wanted to start a company to enable people to explore their dream careers. My initial market study showed that a majority of the Indian workforce was unhappy with their jobs. I envisioned a “reboot” process to support people in actualizing a dream job. I think somewhere it was my own experience and realization of unfulfilling jobs that I converted into a career opportunity,” she says. “I started iReboot from a shared living room. Two years down, I have three employees and 20 consultants who run 18 different reboot experiences that enable people to explore hobbies, career options and make career switches. It has been exhilarating and humbling.”

This ‘humbling’ rush began with an early set of experiences in doing her own thing. She created and sold a newsletter called ‘Pickwick Papers’ while still in school. She recalled, “We shut down in three months. Years later, just prior to iReboot, I started a walking tour company which also closed shop soon. So technically, iReboot is my third startup, but the first serious one.”

When some people get serious about their endeavors, it usually is good news for society as a whole because a life-changing process has been set in motion, or a marvelous invention is in the works that will help humankind as a whole. One individual’s ideas could revolutionize the lives of so many people. Think Alexander Fleming and penicillin, Jonas Salk and the polio vaccine, Thomas Alva Edison and the light bulb, a not-as-famous Robert Gair and his production of cardboard boxes, which has made the lives of millions around the world easier.

Today, ventures with a social heart are called social enterprises, and iReboot fits the definition. Mukta explained how it works, “We cater to three segments: working professionals, students and corporates. iReboot lets you try your hand at what you have been dreaming about - whether it is being a wildlife photographer or a restaurant owner. My proudest moment was when I got an e-mail from one of my participants. He was from North India and had come to us when he was in class 9 and failing in most of his exams. His family recognized that he loved music and sent him to us, to see what he could do for the rest of his life. He underwent DJing sessions and today has a promising future. To make a difference in a person’s life by connecting him with his passion and helping him give it a fair chance - that is what we are all about.”

“We are venturing into the corporate segment to reboot employees in their workplaces. We have collaborated and created shared marketing models with other businesses, and have had over 1,000 participants ranging from fresh graduates to executives.” She acknowledges the challenges she faces to keep iReboot running, and that is getting the right people on board. She says, “On hindsight, I should have started on a larger scale and scaled up a little more.”

But at the end of the day, she’s thrilled to see her dream take shape and become a reality because as she puts it “the concept of iReboot was so abstract to begin with, and giving it form and shape has been an amazing journey.” A journey truly well begun.

Written for Accenture's microsite - Vaahini - a network that empowers women.