UnMetro – The Markets driving India

It was my absolute please to attend Dainik Bhaskar UnMetro Conference on 13^th Dec. A platform where I got to hear some inspiring UnMetro Case Studies from Marketers, incredible panel discussing the future of India being the UnMetros. 

Some take away & quotes from the event:

People nowadays are migrating from smaller towns to cities like Pune, Lucknow and Ahmedabad to earn their livelihood, whereas the rate of people migrating to the so-called metros has fallen sharply.

The non-metro customer today, demands the same luxury packages such as spas, five stars & international vacations that any of his affluent metro counterparts demand.

Trust is the key to success in the unMetros markets and people are open to talk and learn about new things.

The trend of e-commerce players partnering with retail brands is yet to evolve in unMetros

Consumer in future will reject a user inappropriate product. Affordability is no longer an issue for unMetros

5 reasons for the change in nonMetros – increasing awareness for education, health & wellness, growing need for personal grooming, improving hygiene & increasingly eating out & experimenting with food.

60% of my brands revenue comes from non-metro India

Women & Children in UnMetros India have become powerful as far as purchase decisions go.

The advantage in a small town is that the news spreads very fast, brands need to spend money in cultivating loyalty

Products must be hackable & customizable. Customers are getting smarter. They will not buy products just because their favorite celebrity is endorsing it.

Puma – “We have closed 7 stores due to unprofitably, all from Metros”

DHFL – “We target lower middle income group. We have differentiated Business Model to cater to different segments in Market”

CCD- “We are not in the coffee business; we are in the Time pass business. CCD is a place where people want to spend time with their loved ones, beverages accidentally surround them”

Toyota – “By the year 2015, non-metros will account for more than 60% of our sales!”

Puma – “e-Commerce allows us to reach 800 towns that we would have never had reached. It serves a long tail of towns”

Titan – “In the coming 5 years, e-Commerce will be big, Localization will be critical & technology will help us identifying customers with their name & purchase history”.

We at Huawei have always believed that making a common man a brand ambassador & word of mouth is the best marketing strategy. Thus Huawei Club where we are building an eco-system, engaging with Students, Developers, Designers to enrich our customers experiences.  

A brand essence doesn't and will not change, from market the way the message is communicated at times need to be tweaked accordingly to be effective. After the end of the conference, for it’s really difficult to distinguish metros & unMetros into separate categories.

In fact India outside the metros seems to be the emerging India.

Feelings with Failures

This is a space where I want to talk a little bit about failings, because nobody's journey is seamless or smooth – neither is mine. Interesting question that I faced few days back, “What makes what you are today?” & the reply was “My failures!”

We all stumble.

We all have setbacks.

We all do mistakes & wrong choices

If things go wrong, you hit a dead end, as you will, it's just life's way of saying time to change course. So, I always ask every failure, every crisis, and every difficult time -what is this here to teach me? And as soon as you get the lesson, you get to move on. Important is that you really get the lesson, you pass and you don't have to repeat the class.

Difficulties come when you don't pay attention to life's whisper, because life always whispers to you first. And if you ignore the whisper, sooner or later you'll get a scream. Whatever you resist persists. But, if you ask the right question—not why is this happening, but what is this here to teach me? it puts you in the place and space to get the lesson you need.  I have my share of many failed projects, failed matches, failed ideas…but those failures never stop me, they have made me better.

Don't live for yourself alone. This is what I know for sure: In order to be truly happy, you must live along with and you have to stand for something larger than yourself. Because life is a reciprocal exchange. To move forward you have to give back. And to me, that is the greatest lesson of life. To be happy, you have to give something back.

The lesson is - If you're hurting, you need to help somebody ease their hurt. If you're in pain, help erase somebody else's pain. And when you're in a mess, you get yourself out of the mess helping somebody out of theirs. And in this process, you get to become more of a beautiful person that one would like to know more about.

It’s such a lovely sight as my home is glowing in the colorful lights. A small light alone looking so good and playing its small important part in the whole view. 

Wishing you’ll Happy Diwali – go out and make that small difference!

A Student for Lifetime

Called up my mom today afternoon for a general chat, she says “I am painting the wall, can we talk later?”. As the call ended, the only one thing that hit me was how cool stuff my mom is still doing at this age. It’s so inspiring to see my parents always doing something interesting – like going for a jog early morning, trekking, playing badminton, working with NGO etc.

The best thing my parents preached: “Beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take that away from you. It’s the biggest wealth. The world has so many lessons to teach you. Consider the world, this Earth, to be like a school and your life as classrooms. And sometimes here in this Planet Earth school the lessons often come dressed up as detours or roadblocks. And sometimes as full-blown crises. To succeed you got to be open to the lessons, lessons from the grandest university of all, that is, the universe itself.”

The times when I lost badminton matches, banged my car and failed in relationships….all gave me lessons. Failure is never an option; it's being able to walk through life eager and open to self-improvement and that which is going to best help you evolve, 'cause that's really why we're here, to evolve as human beings. To grow into more of ourselves, always moving to the next level of understanding, the next level of compassion and growth.

And I believe that there's a lesson in almost everything that you do and every experience, and getting the lesson is how you move forward and being more of yourself.

From last 2 months, I have been closely working with inters & college’s students - the thing that I have learnt from them:

•      Being who you are (No mask)
•       Not being judgmental
•       Open to experiment & learning’s
•       No fear of failures
•       Being crazy, laughing just because you want to
•       Loving & caring selflessly

I am student for the lifetime. Before going to bed the one thing that I ask myself is, “What I have learnt new?” And I answer – I learnt a new style to bun my hair, I learnt a new vocabulary, I learnt what hurts people, I learnt how to console my friend in a new pattern, I learnt a new song…
I want to learn to swim, skydive, ballet dance, play guitar, bake yummy cookies, skating & many more..

I know that I m getting better from yesterday…I am getting to be more of myself…I am living the way I want to…I m learning something new every day!

Happy Learning Friends!

When it feels right, it’s Right!

It feels like breathing.

It feels like being alive.

It feels right. And that's where everything follows.

When you're doing the work you're meant to do, it feels right and every day is a bonus.

How do you know when you're doing something right? How do you know that?

It feels so. What I know now is that feelings are really your GPS system for life. When you're supposed to do something or not supposed to do something, your emotional guidance system lets you know.

If it doesn't feel right, don't do it. That's the lesson. And that lesson alone will save you, my friends, a lot of grief. Even doubt means don't. There are many times when you don't know what to do. When you don't know what to do, get still, get very still, until you do know what to do.

If you really want to fly, just harness your power to your passion.

Honor your calling. Everybody has one.

Trust your heart and do what feels right!

Drink & Drive - Choice for a Life

A daughter who has seen her father taking his last breath in an ICU

For he is an orphan boy when the car ran over his parents

Would-be brides love brutally being killed on a street

How does all this sound???

Did you felt the pain of losing your loved one because someone drove when they were drunk?

Picture snapped in front of your eyes - car hitting someone and blood all over?

Or

Did you felt guilty for the times where you drove after drinking alcohol & meeting with an accident or getting lucky for escaping any mishap?

Well! If you have felt anything so far, this message is not for you. It is for those who didn't feel anything reading the above lines:

Ask me-

It’s not easy to let go someone from your life forever because someone got on to the driving seat when they were drunk.

It’s devastating to be back in your conscious to face the world which tags you as a killer after you have banged your car on an innocent soul

Been their…shattered….miserable…helpless…seeing time & relationship getting worst.

All this, just because someone like us wanted to have a great time in the party drinking alcohol, carelessly didn't bother but decides to go back home driving.  This is a simple choice one makes to ruin ones beautiful happy family.

NEVER DRINK AND DRIVE!!!

Be Responsible... don’t drink and drive
Help & Support me in this cause
Share your views to make our roads safer by ensuring enforcement of strict laws. 

Back to being a Teetotaler forever & do you still want to know WHY

Learning’s from the Corporate World

It has been a long day yesterday…. Right from interviewing some inters joining my team to attending Bangalore Barcamp - listening to some amazing talks by my friends. Barcamps hold a special meaning in my life and to prove that statement, I started blogging after attending Pune Barcamp 2007 which happens to be my first Barcamp.

As you would know I have been blessed to work with some amazing companies like Oracle, IBM, Motorola, Teleca & Huawei. Barcamp has thought me the art of sharing & learning, thus let me share with you’ll key lessons that I have encountered & adopted during my 6 years of corporate experience:

•   Truly believe in the company & project you are part of. Until and unless you are not passionate you can never give your best
•   Instead of your manager, Plan & Strategies your own work
•   Set targets & benchmarks for yourself. Timely keep a track on our scores
•   If you feel insecure it’s time to learn & work hard in improving your skill sets
•   Do things the way no one ever can do it the way you do
•   Instead of working hard, work smartly
•   Network & build your brand
•  Take ownership
•  Help people working for & with you to grow, they will help you step ahead
•  Present yourself & your work in the best way possible to management
• Let failures never define you, but help you get one step closer to success
• Last not the least – Learn, Share, Contribute, Support & Inspire people around you.

 You will never be remembered in a company for your contributions, but for the way you treated people around.  So have a true beautiful heart and don’t ever forget to carry a smile on your face no matter what the situation is.

Yesterday across the dining table one of my friends said, “You sound very corporate”.

Well I take it as a compliment because my Dear friends I know my business very well.