Starbucks VIA

The image above is of the new VIA- instant coffee from Starbucks. I had of recent read an article on Brandchannel on the release of VIA where the concern was expressed as to whether or not the release of Starbucks instant coffee would cannibalize its coffee shop business. The add is quite an interesting one where a community gathering is shown where men try out Starbucks coffee & VIA and some of them jerk out of their seats shouting that there is no difference in their taste. What makes you take a second look at the add is its crispiness & the weirdness reflected in the frustrated voices of the men as they shout that it's the same. In an unsuccessful attempt to search for the video of the same to upload on my blog I came across many a comment by people, most of them voicing out out the move is going to cost Starbucks dearly & as to why would one want to go to a SB outlet when you can get it in your very own drawing room at a lower cost.

Well, I really cant accept this take. Instant coffee is no new player in the market & there are other competent brands existing the market amidst whom VIA has made an entry. Despite them, there have been a section of the coffee lovers who were Starbucks customers or more broadly speaking, those who liked hanging out at a coffee shop for their daily stimulant. After all, is it only for coffee that a SB customer looks for; is not the entire experience of being served with a steaming cup, hang out with your colleagues or buddy & share thoughts, ideas or just relax over coffee. The experience counts as much as the coffee which can not be recreated aptly in your drawing room. So wherein lies the threat?

Its highly unlikely that regular coffee goers would resort to the comforts of their homes for a SB coffee, just like the vise versa doesn't also seem as an outcome of VIA. The move in fact seems well directed with SB trying to convert the instant coffee customer segment into SB customers while still serving the cafe goers. It can also be a way to satisfy their existing clientèle by allowing them to carry these trim packs of instant coffee so that they can create the SB flavor on flights or on job when a cafe may not be in sight- a win-win situation on either sides of the coin. I have heard that VIA stands out amongst the existing brands for its distinct taste owing to the 100%Arabic beans flavor which is an important competitive edge so that you don't end up as another me to product.

Well, its too early to judge as to whether or not VIA would transcend into a cash cow for Starbucks & I'll try to keep a tab on it.

The Megapixel Myth

A little introduction is required to what influenced me to write a blog as this one which is more technically oriented than marketing oriented; but then we need to have a grasp of the technology that we are marketing, isn't it? My friend Gincy and I were going through some photos of Manali on her laptop when she pointed out how having a camera with a higher pixel would make a huge difference in the quality of photos(2-3MP vis-a`-vis 8MP), to which I disagreed saying that a pixel was not the only Saggi (thats me..) broke into our usual session of arguing (a healthy one!) with none forsaking our stand (cant help it, its in our signs!). Hence, I resorted to resolve the matter by turning to my dear Google for help (thank you Brin & Page) and well the blog is a result of it. What you are about to read is a collection of facts I have selected from a Times of India article on the Megapixel Myth & the 'ars technia' site. The Mega pixel myth is definitely one of the finest & convincingly woven one from the Marketeers which makes me often think as to what if each had the Pinocchio curse on them :-)

Go Gincy Go..........Take A Shot!

Mega pixels are the digital camera market's equivalent of horsepower and megahertz—a single metric that consumers and marketers latch on to tenaciously, despite the fact that it hardly describes overall performance. Over the last several years, camera manufacturers have been pumping up the megapixels on each successive camera model, regardless of whether such increases offered any real benefits (hint: they usually did not).

Millions of dollars spent by companies on advertising the ‘megapixel myth’ have brainwashed many. The fact is megapixels have nothing to do with image quality. Cramming more megapixels into a smaller image sensor can even lead to reduced picture quality. Throwing more megapixels at the digital imaging problem is akin to bumping up the processor speed on a motherboard with a slow bus and small amounts of RAM, or adding a turbo to a small engine on a car with lousy brakes and wobbly suspension. The number of megapixels in a camera's image sensor is just one in a number of aspects that truly define how well a camera works.

With cams available in 1.3 to 12 megapixel resolution, what do you pick? For high-quality prints sized 8”x 10” or more, you need a camera with at least 3 megapixel resolution. Getting close to your subject is a secret of great photos. But what’s this optical/digital zoom stuff? Optical zoom is the magnification within the lens itself when you zoom in/out. Make sure the camera has powerful optical zoom capability. Digital zoom doesn’t change focal length. Instead, as you zoom in, a smaller and smaller portion of the digital sensor is used to record the subject. This lowers the number of pixels.

The truth is, though, that 6MP is enough to make a very nice 8 x 10" print in fact, 8 x 10" prints from early 3MP DSLRs is possible. More pixels can mean larger prints or more room for cropping. But who's making larger prints, other than professionals? When was the last time we took photos with the 3MP Nokia mob-cam or with the Sony Cybershot & took printouts of them to paste in the album? Even a I write about it I get a nostalgic feeling as I remember the old Kodak I loved so much and the stacks of tiny albums I have stored up in my old suitcase. I might like to go back to making albums for different occasions, but stung by convenience & the practicality imposed upon me by technological advancements, I know I would end up burning the photos onto a CD/DVD. Huh! Maybe a couple of years down the lane if I might chance upon reading the same blog again, I might cringe upon seeing the mention of CD/DVD & would think as to why didn't I pen down Blue Ray instead.

Now with compact cameras offering up to 24x zoom ranges, exactly how much cropping would someone need?

Keep in mind that with the increase in megapixels comes a resulting increase in file size. So shooting hundreds or even thousands of 12MP images means larger memory cards, more space eaten up on hard drives, and more time sorting and editing—all for images that are likely to end up viewed at no larger than 800 x 600px... or about half a megapixel.

Beyond megapixels

Digital SLRs have enjoyed a recent uptick in popularity

Along with the number of megapixels in a sensor, other factors affect the image quality of a camera. The dynamic range, or the range of tones the sensor is able to reproduce, is a rather important one. A high-pixel-density sensor's ability to perform well in low light, which we mentioned above, is another. But beyond the sensor itself, the two other major factors that come into play are the on-board image processing hardware and the camera's lens. This is one reason SLRs have had a resurrection of sorts lately: DSLRs offer better lenses, larger sensors, and often better image processing.

So, manufacturers are starting to focus more on features like wider or longer zooms, higher-quality lenses, low-light performance, dynamic range, and high-def video capabilities. We've already seen a pretty significant competition between Nikon and Canon for the high-ISO crown this past year or so, and the improvements gleaned from high-end DSLR designs are trickling down to compact cameras. Further, Fuji has recently begun focusing marketing on dynamic range with its new EXR sensor technology. And some compacts, such as recent Pentax and Canon superzoom models, as well as DSLRs, like the Canon EOS 5DmkII or Nikon's D90, have already begun to exploit digital sensors to capture HD video.

Though focusing solely on the number of megapixels made marketing and buying digital cameras easier, it seems that we are at a major turning point in the direction of further developments in digital camera technology. Much like cars have shifted from horsepower to safety and efficiency, and computers have shifted from mega- (and giga-) hertz to multiple cores and... well, efficiency, digital cameras will shift toward other aspects that reflect the "bigger picture" of a camera's performance.

A Peek Into The Indian Automobile Industry

Here is a write up on the Automobile sector of India, lets just do away with any history & the entry of the Amby & Maruti & jump to the current scenario. Its not my speculation, but from what the papers rattle, the Indian Automobile Industry is slated to grow at 9- 10% in near future(don't ask me when it is). The 2 wheeler segment sales grew by 12.8% with modest 2.6% growth rate, under this segment the market leader Hero Honda has had growth of 12% in domestic sales while Bajaj Auto was a loser with sales plunging by 23%(!!).

Car sales on the other hand have grown by 22.7%(healthy!) in last Feb but commercial vehicles reported slower sales. Its is said that for the festive season round the corner, car-makers are going to producing 70,000units/month more over the average of 1.3lac/month with the help of 5000new hands(Source- ET). These news make me think whether we are already in the post recession era coz if that is the case, none would be happier than me as it would spell a better placement season for me(us in fact). But then, when have industrialists been truthful as most of this news can also be floated to keep up the market spirits; well not a bad cause at all, yet......In the past few days, almost on a daily basis I have been confronted by auto news wherein we have Ford, Nissan, Toyota, all coming up with their own bandwagon of small cars to gain a pie of the Indian auto market share.The boom in market demand is reflected in the August sales of Maruti which is 84,808 vis-a`-vis 59, 908 last yr in 2008. In fact the total car sales upped by 30.5% in Aug 2009 while Maruti's exports alone grew to 156.2% against last year's growth figures. However, the largest automobile company, TATA Motors had a 10.7% decline in revenue despite it being christened variously as the 4Th largest truck manufacture, world's 2ND largest bus manufacturer .........................to be contd.

Customer Loyalty??

Doing a recent CRM class I started thinking as to whether customer loyalty really does exist or it just one of those jargon that marketeers are so fond of using. Theoretically customer loyalty has been defined as the tendency of a customer to stick to one's brand and not go for another one, even when your favored brand ain't available. However, in today's times when price has become a deciding factor in a lot of product categories and the customer is exposed to a host of choices, the definition seems to be inflexible to define customer loyalty.

I am of the view that customer loyalty exists in the two extremes of customer segments;the lower & upper alone. An example of the lower strata would be the lower middle class in cities as well as rural India & a good chunk of the middling middle class in rural India who bear strong brand loyalty to the convenient store that operates in their village, the brand of soap, toothpaste, oil they use, etc. E.g., during my occasional visits to my hometown in the country side I have seen my relatives insisting on buying their day to day needs from "Kanan's shop" and not "Ramu's shop" which may be just across to the prior one. They are picky about using only Surf for school uniforms and Colgate is regarded as a drug which is the only one of its kind as a cure for bad teeth. Their lack of exposure to a variety of products & their insistence on not opening up to a new range, even when new brands penetrate these hinterlands is what I would safely assume to be a depiction of brand loyalty. However, some marketing gurus have demarcated such behavior as Brand Stickiness.

Coming to the other strata that I mentioned of; the upper crust. I have often noticed that with increasing disposable income, people become more ambitious, more brand conscious & more choosy. A behavior which can be seen to manifest itself in practices as a Mr Mehra going only for Lacoste T-shirts for his Saturday outings or a Mrs Ahuja buying Kurtis only from Meena Bazaar. In fact, ma dad always stuck to Sony when he wanted to purchase a music system (we have gone for a repurchase).

I can't even remain loyal to my girlfriend, where does the question of Brand Loyalty come?!?

The scenario looks quite favorable in India at least where a good part of the population is drifting towards the upper crust where disposable incomes are on a hike despite the current financial turbulence. However, as technological & educational advances take place, most customers would come to a common platform as the existing customer segments would reduce. however, there is a quite a lot of time left for a phenomenon as such when most products would get commoditized & a uniformity would set in as one might have seen in some of those science fiction movies as Equilibrium........etc.

Hey Dude Check Out Ma New SONY- NWZ W202!

Shakespeare had penned in Romeo & Juliet "What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet." Hmmm.......thought provoking indeed; does the mane really not matter?

Well what me thinking along this lane was a review of the new Sony Walkman & how it's gonna compete with the i- Pod. The features of the Walkman were quite impressive & probably it can give more than a nudge to Apple's position in market. But I believe, where it falls short against Apple is in the name. Let's just picture 2 college buddies running into each other, each immersed in his own world, heads jerking to music pumping from their respective devices. Well one jives in, " Hey Dude check out the new number I downloaded on my Pod" and what the other fellow say........."Oh yeah, I have got some great stuff on my NWZ - W202(?@?$?)." Now believe me, I had to google out the model's name before I could pen it down here, and one glance at the name wasn't enough. So, how cool did it sound Dude?

It beats my logical thinking process as to why would Sony come up with some name as such which sounds apt for some newly discovered DNA sequence. A simple understanding of Sony's target customer would put it plainly that the youth values these devices as much for their expression as for its basic utility. From saying "I Google" to "I love ma Apple", "I go for Dior..." , each of these is a way one expresses oneself.

I do agree, that when one buys a Television or a camera, what I say wouldn't hold true, but then that is exactly the point for the motive behind buying these ain't very similar to the thought process that goes on when u would buy an i-Pod or NW.......whatever.

Keep it simple and stupid..........oh! how tough can it be! It will be interesting to see more competition in the world of music as no would benefit more from it than die hard music monks like me :-)