Brand Wars : Rin vs Tide

Soft drinks, energy drinks and now detergents, it seems that consumers are due to witness some great creative dirty linen washing in public. We all have witnessed Coke-Pepsi band war and have much enjoyed Pepsi’s slogan “Nothing official about it!!” and to be honest it was a catchy line, and it was quite useful as well especially when you used it on dates, Obviously you had to be a bit creative in it’s usage. ;) Anyway, using catchy lines on dates is not the theme of this article, theme is brand wars.


Then we witnessed war between Horlicks and Complan, this war was initiated by Horlicks but has been taken up seriously by Complan. Complan struck back very aggressively and has never relented since then. Poor Horlicks, shouldn’t have poked the sleeping liger!!

This time we have HUL’s Rin & P&G’s Tide horn locked together in the brand war. However, this time story is not that simple, it so happens that HUL has been loosing its market share over the past few years and since Rin and Tide have been pitching for same market of whiteness in clothes competition has been very intense. So, In January’10 P&G launched ‘Tide Naturals’ at a much lower price as compared to the original Tide or RIN which started eating away into Rin’s market. Apparently by natural P&G meant that they had added some scents (Lime & ….) to Tide. Now, we as consumers sometimes are not very vigilant in terms of brands and just take them on the face value and probably that’s what happened with Tide as well. People didn’t notice that the lower priced product was Tide Naturals and not the original tide, although the packaging for both the Tide’s is different as well. Original one is in Orange and later one is in Greenish yellow. Its also possible that people just assumed that Tide Naturals would provide the same kind of whiteness after washing as Tide. Whatever the thought process of the consumer but that’s how P&G played its card for eating into Rin’s market. Now, I wonder isn’t that fooling the consumer? I would leave this question open.


Now, we move on to HUL and its current raging advertisement on TV channels(Watch @: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M5rBXtK9iA ), In this advert RIN goes in for a direct comparison with Tide Naturals(Look at the advert carefully) and not original Tide. HUL doesn’t go for any mud slinging and sticks to promoting only its product RIN and they have put all the disclaimers in place on the advert. However, lets face it Tide is getting an indirect promotion form it. Let’s just say bad publicity is a kind of publicity as well and with Indian consumer you never know HUL might find that their plan has back fired.

So, in this advert RIN guys just state that RIN provides better whiteness that Tide. You can say that it was a move from RIN to educate consumers that Tide and Tide Naturals are different from each other and P&G has probably been fooling consumers by selling them Tide Naturals on the brand wave of Tide. However, point to note is that how many consumers are aware of the fact that Tide and Tide Naturals are different products launched by P&G to capture different income segments? If the intent was to bring awareness to consumer and majority of consumers are not aware of the difference between the two P&G Tide products, then the Ad could be a complete failure, but hold your horses before jumping to any conclusion.

Its possible that this advert was aimed that directly at Tide and Tide Naturals was used as a bate. Since in all probability Tide Naturals is an inferior product and Rin in comparison to RIN and HUL guys got this verified through an independent lab and used it to hit Tide brand where it hurt the most.

Whatever the intent of the HUL guys, the crux is HUL has played the game very wisely, they timed the advert over the long weekend so that P&G could not obtain the stay on advert as all the law enforcement agency would not be functional and in this long weekend damage to Tide has been done and by the looks of it damage could be very costly to P&G, unless they come back with a solid comeback on this advert, which could be very difficult as HUL has not slandered Tide but have just gone for an relative benchmarking with the help of an independent laboratory.

Its should be interesting to see what happens next, I would just urge Indian consumer to be a bit more alert and cautious. :)

Happy washing !!

Don’t assume!!!!

If you have ever worked in Service based industry, often you must have heard the slang “Don’t assume!! Assumption is the mother of all screw ups”. I came across few such incidents in my routine life. These incidents were not exactly screw ups but simple happenings that can be narrated as anecdotes. I have penned one such latest incident as it’s still fresh in my memory.

Few days back I was walking back to my apartment after a lazy days work and on my way back I have to cross a busy motorway. Now, an excellent thing about British transport system is that they put pedestrian comfort and safety first and on each crossing they have put up switch for pedestrians which would switch green signals to red so pedestrians can go across the motorway safely. However, there is one small flaw in this convenient system instituted for pedestrians, it assumes that pedestrians would push that switch when they need to cross the motorway and that’s where this system falls apart in some situations and such situation arises when lazy bums like us have to go across the motorway. So, on this lazy evening, while I was walking back from lazy days work, I came to this crossing on motorway where this non-automated switch has been installed for my own safety. Now, this time I wasn’t here first, there were quite a few people standing there already and I joined the herd. Little did I care to glance at the switch as to whether someone had buzzed it? Now, to help you fellas compare the relative idle time spent by me on that signal, let me tell you that once the switch is activated it takes around 20 seconds for the pedestrian light to go green. Now, I was standing there along with 10-12 other people waiting for pedestrian light to say Go! Anyway, 20 seconds passed, 21, 22, 23……30. Impatience started to pang me, it was chilly and I was standing at this junction waiting for the stupid light to go green. Some people I guess could not control themselves apparently 30 seconds were too much of stationary time for them. So, they just crossed the motorway as soon as they found a small gap they could pass through.
Restlessly, I looked around and observed that others were also contemplating the same dilemma whether to jump or to wait and then I glanced at the switch no one amongst us had cared to give it a little push. No wonder the light never turned green and then I pointed that out to people around me in a humorous way and I was amazed at the reaction they smirked a bit and then just crossed the road.
So, 10-12 lazy, restless bums who never bothered to do their part of giving that switch a little nudge and who just assumed that someone else must have done it kept standing there like a bunch of morons waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green. How lazy can we get?

Anyway, eventually the light had pity on us turned green after some time automatically after 35 seconds I guess. I hope this teaches me a lesson never to assume anything and never to be lazy bum. Hopefully. Wish!!!!

Shoes, Sandals and school of thought behind
A question I have been pondering over quite some time now and heaven knows, I can’t seem to find a plausible answer to that question. Before I table that question, let me put forth to everyone’s notice that this article is purely to be taken in light hearted manner. I don’t want people reading this and then sending me PM’s saying that article was chauvinistic and blah blah…..there is no room for all those perspective words. It’s just question and I want help to find an answer to that question.

Have you heard about the saying “Best shoe is one, which fits you best and that’s the one you should stick with”? Never mind, if you haven’t heard it, I just made that up. My point here is that lately I have come across few interesting people in my life who either seem to find quite many shoes that fit them and hence buy quite many or can’t seem to find any shoe that fits them well and hence keep on buying in search for the perfect one.
This strange phenomenon has appalled me, and it’s not that I didn’t ask them about such generous deeds towards boot makers but their rationale has never convinced me to the core of my heart. So, I call upon you people for help to help me understand it.

Now just for information, in my whole life up till now, I haven’t owned more than 35 pair of shoes, max 40 but definitely not more than that and these people I am talking about and who let me stress are very beautiful people, currently own on an average amongst them 80 pairs of shoes. Whooooaaa!!

Before you follow with the same expression as above, let me tell you its average among just four people. So, please verify the facts with other people as well, but let me tell you the numbers are not going to vary much amongst girl’s give and take 10. So, my question is “what’s the urge that drives them to buy shoes and sandals in such copious amounts?”.
It’s not like shoe making industry is facing a holocaust or as if shoe economy is to face an eminent credit crunch like automotive or banking industry across the world is currently facing. From what I have seen, one of them would need a warehouse to store all her shoes.

I could go on and on but you see that’s no way o look at things, I am sure there’s a explanation behind and I am looking for it. Now, hold on since we are here me writing it and you reading it. I also want to understand the intrigue that lies behind the designs that are picked up by them. Unfortunately, I only have one sample to put in along but I can surely describe a few that have caught my imagination or inquisitiveness. The one you can see is a floral pink one, very pretty I must say but don’t you think they would go better on flip flops that should be worn at some sunny beaches. The second one that comes to my mind is the golden belly with a beaded bow at the tip, now that an interesting design as well. First of all its golden, second of all it has bow , which we all know isn’t supposed to be worn there and third of all its beaded. People what happened to good old prom tuxedos. [:P]

Oh! I recall another interesting one as well. It was one which a very thin kind of just inner sole with a thin sole and thin leather straps that went up to knee lengths. Very eye catching but shouldn’t they are like late by 1000 years and suit in Greek times. Oh and here comes jogging back a white one as well with a pink flower and white bead in the middle. Oh! Pretty Barbie doll like shoe and no wonder she looked like one. Well there are more that come back as I recall and when as the people who wore them come back to my mind as well, I think I have my answer as to why they bought all those shoes and sandals. It’s probably the habit of going into details of everything, to make sure that everything matches and compliments every other thing they wear. It’s probably that they are more organized than I am. It’s probably to make sure that they are on the same page as everything that’s in discussion. Its probably they care more about themselves than I do.

I guess I should learn something’s from them, to get into more details, to get a bit more organized and to be choosier about my selection, though I still think bow belle shoe was silly. :P

Anyway, I would now thank my four friends JK,SK,KC and SD for all their help. You people are pretty good at shoe selection. No Kiddin.

Random....

I float around aimlessly to the paths that we used to tread.
I think about the good times that we spent.
I feel strong about the faith that we carried.
I feel dedication about the care that we nurtured.

Now,
I feel heaviness in the air around.
I feel loss of an ally, a support.
I feel my movements are chained.
I feel the drag that is weighing heavy.

I look back and I try to find my fault, for no one is perfect.
I look back at the good times that are cherished, for they still nurture hope.
I look back to the endless coffees, for they provided endless discussions.
I look back to those sallies, for they showed us it wasn’t all-dumb.

I wish for that faith and friendship
I wish for that care and concern
To last for centuries………

Lived by her…

He was devoid of his basic needs. He could do without food, water, clothes or anything that to a common man was necessary, but as they say no one is fully independent. He was dependent too, dependent on her and it was not just her, he was dependent on her fragrance, her touch, her voice, her love, her support. He loved everything about her, even her tantrums were amusing to him. Her wishes small or big, reasonable or unreasonable were his small- big ambitions. Buying her gifts had become his favorite hobby. He had started to love shopping and she has started to love sports. He was so used to her being around. Fragrance of her hair, delicate aroma wafting around the room. His eyes always appeared mesmerized, and everyone knew the reason, he had been taking in too much of that sweet lavender fragrance of her. He was stoned by that scent.

He could be calmed just by her touch. Her smoothness was unmistakable, satin couldn’t hoodwink him. Her touch was his constant companion calming him, soothing him. Her voice was a song; He heard it for hours but couldn’t get enough of it. The canary was no competition to her. Well, the voice wasn’t sweet all the time for sure but yeah! It was lovely always.

He was used to walking with his arms around her, anyone watching could not tell who was supporting who but they both knew each of them was supporting the other, for they both knew they missed a part of themselves when they were not around each other. They shared everything together, all joys, all sorrows, all joys, all troubles, all successes, and all failures. Calls, SMS’s, mails….whatever the means they were always there for each other.

They lived on each other. Feasting on their love for each other and thriving on it. They were perfect when they were together. They felt the need to be together and to hold each other. If there was passion or magic anywhere, it was their love that was the existing proof. They drank by each other.

Well, most of what they shared is inexplicable, it was magical and passionate. As time flew by no one noticed and before he could know it was over. Gone without a trace…… and he was clueless as to what had happened. He tried to salvage, whatever was left but it all slipped away. The more he tried to hold on to it, more it slipped and was lost, like sand…..it slipped away.

It’s true he was dependent on her and when it all slipped away; everyone said that he would learn to live without her and all this living by her crap would go away. Well, to admit the truth, he did learn to live without her, but where everyone went wrong was when they said he would stop living by her, that my friends never happened. He lived by her memories and his imagination. Call these hallucinations or his imaginations but yes, he has been with her since then…call him a fool because he never stopped living by her.

Three musketeers and Espresso Crema Shakerato

Let’s refresh the history so that you can relate to phrase “Coffee Jinx broken”. Every time I have tried something new or different at a coffee shop, my experience has been hugely disappointing.

Though this time around my experience has been overwhelmingly euphonic and the credit goes to Espresso Crema Shakerato. Served in Martini glasses at Barista’s crème outlets, is this seasons “Must haves”. A layer of cold milk cream over iced Italian coffee frothed in a shaker gives an incredible feel with mouth full of coffee and milk. The catch to enjoy the drink is the technique behind drinking it. One doesn’t have to drink it like one has cappuccino, since it’s served in layers in glass. Bottom layer has the iced coffee and above it is the frothed milk, so way to go is that you have to take mouth full’s in every swill, make sure that you hold the milk in your mouth and keep tilting the glass till you have iced coffee in your mouth. Tongue experiences three multifarious tastes at the same time: milk/ coffee-milk/ iced coffee.

I am sure I haven’t done justice with words to the taste, so, you might want to try it out yourselves.

I have gone into so much detail while explaining how to drink because without the technique the drink would just taste bland as it did to Khushboor, Who couldn’t understand why I and Kamlavatti were savoring it so much. Well, we tried to teach him the trick but to no avail, he managed the task but by that time the drink was so wasted only froth and coffee was left and Martini glasses don’t hold much. Never the less drink is perfect to beat the heat.

If you are going to try the drink, you might as well try my second recommendation which is to try Barista crème outlet at Khan Market, Go for the second floor open air seating. It’s pretty soothing and relaxing though you might find some tobacco smoke wafting up to you as it’s a smoking zone but even then place is worth it. Pick a cool day or try it out in evening after sunset. Allow me to support my recommendation, Kamlavatti is a food junkie and would eat anything anytime, but astonishingly Kamlavatti was ready to for go her dinner so that she could sit there and tittle-tattle. Can’t blame her, place is enticing. I usually prefer Café coffee day over Barista but I would gladly pick Barista Khan Market outlet over CCD just for that second floor seating.

That reminds me; while you are there keep you volume in check because it’s pretty easy to listen to conversation on the table next to you. I agree it’s morally and ethically wrong but then who can resist if two girls on the table next to you are blabbing about their high school type problems with their boy friends. I and Kamlavatti couldn’t stop ourselves from commenting while Khushboor frowned at our behavior, He was just getting jumpy and trying to act mature, But he has to admit he was having fun listening to them because he was the first one to notice when their inflated tones took a dive.

I am pretty sure we would like to go there again and hopefully this time around Khushboor would enjoy Espresso Crema Shakerato as well. Cheers!!

Wednesday : Redefining the art of making movies.

A man looking down from a high rise desolate roof top trying to figure out chasm below which keeps on widening and deepening and he realizes that city of his dreams is going to submerge under the pressure of inefficiency and spirit of system to fight back crime.

This man is Naseeruddin Shah who gave a scintillating performance in “Wednesday”.

To match up to his intimidating best performance, Anupam kher has once again proved that when it comes to films it’s not the footage minutes that count. It’s about the savoir faire with which you delve into the character and bring it to life.

NS plays the role of a common man who is tired, deserted and shattered by the events and miss-happenings in his city and after some soul searching decides to vent his frustration on security agencies of the state through a plan.

Plot starts from Anupam Kher’s office who is Mumbai’s top cop. He receives a call from a anonymous caller who warns him to pander to his wishes on the leverage that 5 live bombs have been planted in Mumbai which will blow up at 6 in evening. Anupam Kher plays the role with a panache that keeps you glued to the screens. Both renowned artists have outdone themselves to bring out the message in the story and the plight of common man.

It’s not one of those gruesome flicks with grey shades but a thriller and suspense flick with a message that “The power of one is the power to do anything”. Movie depicts how common man gets affected every time an accident takes place. How common man bears the burnt patiently until one day he is no longer top face himself in mirror and decides to take things in hand.

Jimmy Shergill who plays an ATS officer also does a great justice to his role. I wouldn’t want to reveal the plot and kill the whole surprise. Unquestioningly this movie is worth much more it’s dough. For a change our bollywood is moving to non masala movies without idiotic, blaring melodies which hold no meaning. Watch the movie!!