SO WHAT ONLINE SOCIAL ANIMAL ARE YOU?

The social networking revolution only goes to furthur prove that be it the real or virtual world; man is a social animal.
 
When it comes to social networking sites in general; and Facebook in particular; we all demonstrate characteristics that can archetype us as a kind of 'social animal'.

But what social animals are we online? Here's my take.

Basis for the model

My model of 'social animal archetyping is loosely based on the well known Heylens Model. My simplistic interpretation of the Heylens Model of Needs is shown in the chart below . For those who want to understand it in detail and complexity; read about it online or join Unilever !(they live by it )
Essentially all human needs can be plotted on a basic framework - Internal VS External  &  Group VS Individual
Internal needs are more self self actualised while external needs are more societal. Group needs are more affiliative while Individual needs are more 'individual'

Here's how it works for a category like alcohol.

So how does this framework pan out for people in their social networking avtaars? Through continuous observation of the way people(including myeslf) act, post, react etc on facebook; people's needs from social networking can also be fit into a framework.

Social Need States

 I believe needs from social networking fall into four quadrants:

Individual Vs Participative
&;
Exhibitionist Vs Vouyeristic

Vouyeristic needs are those which take vicarious pleasure in reading about others lives without disclosing much about your own. Vouyers seldom if ever post things, but read everything.
Exhibitionism is all about telling the world about yourself - love me, hate me; but don't ignore me.
Individualism is all about doing your own thing. Demonstrating how different you are, the different places you have been to, the 'away from the beaten track' things you do..... and the 'free spirit' life you lead.
Participation is about continuous interaction. Of demonstrating solidarity. Of regularly commenting on status, pictures, posts etc. And of continuously pushing the 'Like' button!

These four are needs in their extremes. There would ofcourse be shades in-between.


So given this framework; there emerge 4 active social networking archetypes. There could be more (as in the alcohol example); but to keep things simple let's look at the four which are clearly differentiated from each other.

The first is the TIGER archetype. The leader. This person is fiercely individual. He does his(or her) own thing. Is not keen to try what is the latest fad on facebook; unless it interests him. He believes in doing things first, for others to follow. Be it apps, posts, pictures or a point of view.
The next is the OWL archetype.Make no mistake. This archetype is quite active on facebook, it's just that he does not post too much. Most of his time is spent observing what others are doing and saying. He sees everything and everyone; but hardly anyone sees him. Atleast not online.
The ELEPHANT archetype is the participator.He has a point of view on everything -freely comments and posts on other peoples pages. Likes to continuously keep conversations going. The bulk of his time is spent on reacting to what other people are doing rather than putting something up himself.
And lastly there's the PEACOCK; the preener. He lives to post. Be it anything - big , small or inconsequential - the world's gotta know. His life is an open book and he thrives on your reactions. The more you comment on his posts; the better he feels .....facebook for him is a cathartic experience.

I am sure you have seen some or all of these social animal traits online. As marketeers; identyfying individuals by these traits could provide a good opportunity for targetting.

But therein lies the problem.

From what I've observed. Most people are not true to one archetype in the social networking world. Today they are a Tiger, tomorrow a Peacock ; right now an Elephant and the next moment - an Owl.  While  archetypes exist; branding individuals under one is difficult; if not impossible.

So we could say in the online world the 'social animal' called man is actually a CHAMELEON - he keeps changing colour!

So how do Marketeers address this constantly changing consumer?


In category after category we see an individual consumer ; who we assume to be a certain type; exhibiting different(almost schizophrenic) behavior over a period of time. Let’s take the example of investors in stocks. Typically we see two types of consumers - Investors ( who invest in a stock and stay invested in it over a long period of time) and Traders( who buy/sell stock everyday and sometimes several times a day). However when stock market conditions change suddenly(as has been happening frequently in the past 3-4 years) we see abrupt changes in their behavior. Eg when a stock price falls temporarily in the short term, Investors sell off their stocks fearing the worst; thus turning into traders. Similarly , when stock price falls, Traders ( even those with a ‘Stop Loss’ – i.e a discipline where as a trader you cut your losses and sell) start holding onto their stocks in the hope the price will rise; thus turning into investors.

In the social networking space, the consumer is even more of a ‘moving target’. Flitting between different states depending on mood, person he’s interacting with(office colleague/attractive opposite sex/family/close friend/soulmate!), environment(at home/office/party/alone/with friends/partner etc), device through which interacting(computer/mobile/tablet & app/ web) etc etc.

So how do Marketeers address this moving target? .

By not addressing individual consumers, but addressing a social needstate.

Hence; segment consumers on social networking sites into these 4( or more) archetypes. And have brands aligned to certain archetypical mindstates ( and not a certain individual consumer). With the understanding that an individual in , say, the Tiger social needstate maybe your target consumer today but may not be so tomorrow as he may have become an Elephant that day. (No worries as he/she would be replaced by other consumers who have become Tigers for the day!) For eg If we look at the category of , say, ‘weekend entertainment’; a Tiger would be more attracted to ‘off the beaten path’ treks, the Owl archetype maybe attracted to browsing the top best sellers at a book shop, a Peacock to the ‘first day-first show’ of a much hyped movie and an Elephant to dinner out with friends. Chances are, an individual may do all of the above in the four weekends in a month! So as an adventure company, I can only target 1/4th of this individual consumer. But also 1/4th of every other who will be a Tiger that day!

Based on status updates, number of comments being posted, kind of comments being posted on a particular day ( or hour!) etc; it is technically possible to have analytics that bucket users into their real time social need state and send out relevant messaging to that bucket(privacy concerns notwithstanding). This could be the next state of targeted messaging in the online space – one of real time psychographic targeting based on social needstate.

In today’s ultra competitive marketing environment, it’s a jungle out there. Let’s see which brands become the kings of social animal targeting!

NIFTY RE-MIXED - not your 'run of the mill' NFO communication

A lot of mutual fund communication suffers from what I call the 'middle path wallpaper syndrome'.

What's that?

Taking the safe middle road to communication messaging. Smiling, happy faces....dreams being realised...childs education....daughters marriage....better lifestyle.... better home etc etc. Not just mutual funds...banks, insurance and even share broking advisory all fall in the same rut.

Kind of a financial services advertising ghetto - all financial services brands bunched up in the same small space( see my earlier post on this one).

But MOSt Shares M50 is different. To start with; it's a unique product.

And a unique product demands 'category busting communication!

But the task was not that easy.

MOSt Shares M50 is India’s 1st Fundamentally weighted ETF based on Nifty. 
Fundamental weighing based on NIFTY is essentially a combination of active and passive investing. MOSt Shares M50 takes the NIFTY 50 stocks and reassigns their weightage in a different proportion using Motilal Oswal AMC’s pre-defined methodology.This methodology is based on the fundamental performance and valuations of each stock(rather than market capitalisation)

Challenge :A unique product; but also a complex product to communicate

Which is where the leap of looking outside the standard category wallpaper for a vivid metaphor came in. And we found that in music.

The way MOST Shares M50 works is pretty much like the way a remix song does i.e it takes a classic/blue chip stocks and mixes the proportion of the stocks based on their fundamental factors.

 So in a sense MOST Shares M50 is the ‘NIFTY Remixed’.

The whole look, feel and mood of the campaign uses music as a metaphor. The usage of vivid visual imagery in the form of a DJ and pink colour scheme adds a freshness and vibrancy to the execution.

Have a look at the complete campaign here 

https://www.slideshare.net/ramnikchhabra/m50-ppt

Here's one product that's trying to escape the financial advertising ghetto!

Financial Services Brands - Who's showing me the way?

Why are brands so important in financial services?

For one the category is fairly young. Be it banking, insurance, mutual funds or stock broking; there is a lack of knowledge among consumers about which product is better, cheaper, faster. Hence the need for trustmarks.Secondly, being intangible (with at best, a future promise of return on investment), you can’t touch/feel/enjoy financial products off the shelf. You can’t even show them off to your friends (Sorry Apple fans; no iLoans!). And lastly ; financial products are well regulated and financial transactions typically are recurring and relatively long term. This makes it one category where the offerer is of more significant than the offering itself.

No wonder in recent times every financial services company is rushing to create a financial services brand.

But then creating a relevant and powerful financial services brand is challenging.

Challenge 1 :India is a country of dichotomoy. We have a low human development index of 128 and yet over 1,41,000 millionairres. 1.5million Indians graduate every year and yet a 35.2% of population is illiterate. A savings rate of of 39%(growing at 20% CAGR) and equity penetration of less than 2%. There are many (often opposite) shades to India. To be truly ubiquitous; financial brands would need to address this dichotomy.
Challenge 2: The exuberance of youth :With an average age of only 26 years; we are one of the youngest countries in the world. With youth comes ambition. People today look at not what’s affordable; but what’s aspirational. Fulfilling aspirations requires financial prosperity . A promise that financial brands can help fulfill. However; in promising financial prosperity in a credible and responsible lies the challenge.

Challenge 3 : India’s Changing Mindset towards Money
• The Past ‘Socialist’ Era : Money should be saved and hence ‘Earning – Saving = Expenditure’.
• Todays ‘Consumption’ Era : Money should be used and hence ‘Earning – Expenditure = Saving’.
• The Future ‘Investment’ Era : Money should grow and hence ‘Earning – Expenditure = Investment which should create wealth
The role of financial branding would have to reflect the changing Indian need i.e from saving to creating wealth
The challenges are steep. But the end of the challenge rainbow lies a pot of opportunity.

Opprtunity 1 : Savings Boom in the Next Trillion Dollar era
In the next 7-8 years; India's GDP is set to double to over 2 trillion USD. And with a savings rate reaching 40%; savings in India will be over USD 1 Trillion . We are already in the midst of a consumption boom. The opportunity for financial brands lies in converting the huge savings into an investment boom .

Opportunity 2: The Entrepreneur at the center of India’s growth model : India’s growth is market lead (unlike China's which is state induced). If you look at history; you will see that India was one of the world’s original capitalists. Entrepreneuralism is ingrained in our culture. Given the right empowerment , knowledge and environment(sometimes even without the environment!); we have within our DNA to create wealth. The opportunity for financial brands lies in creating the right circumstances.


Opportunity 3: The Indian Capital MarketContrary to popular perception of the risks involved; if we see the returns given by the stock market over a 30 year period ; we can see that the Sensex has grown 170 times in the past 30 years. An annual return of 18 %. Capital markets ; if seen from a disciplined and long term perspective; are a powerful medium for creating wealth .

The Role of Financial Brands in Financial Inclusion
Be it colas or mobilephones; a category becomes really big when the a critical mass of consumers get included into the category. And that’s when the Cokes , Pepsi’s , Airtel's and Vodafone's move from the fringes to mainstream consumption .The real opportunity for financial brands lies in helping get consumers included into the category. The brand that does so will reap the benefits of the Indian opportunity.

Hence a key role for financial brands and financial branding is in financial inclusion. Making consumers interested and empowered in investing by showing them the way to better investing. ‘Financial Empowerment’ can lead to ‘Financial Inclusion’. And ‘Financial Empowerment’ can only happen with knowledge of financial products and how to benefit from them to create wealth.

If financial brands are able to provide the right kind of education and knowledge; Indians (with their entrepreneurial/’Do it myself’ DNA) will be able to make themselves financially included! A financial brands role is hence to clear myths about investing . Educate on the right process. And hence make Indians Financially Empowered.

A step that we at MOSL have taken in this direction is the education initiative in the form of Value Investing Forum for education on long term Value Investing in the stock markets and also a series of films on investing versus trading and the role of research. Besides education of customers and intermediaries through investment camps.

Hence to summarise the role of financial brands : Provide ‘Knowledge’ that leads to Financial 'Empowerment’ which leads to ‘Financial Inclusion’

Are Iconic Technology Brands a myth?

Classical branding taught us about power brands that stand the test of time.Across market conditions , geographies and time.Have a good product, invest in your brand over time; and it will continue to be iconic.

But in the recent past in an increasingly 'instant' world; not too many technology brands seem to stand the test of time and tend to lose their aura pretty quickly.

Let's look at cars. From the 1920's to 1950s the power brands(pun unintended) in automobiles were from the Ford and General Motors stable- Pontiac, Chevy, Dodge, etc. Soon these were upstaged by European superbrands - Mercedez Benz , Porsche and Audi (rememebr the Quattro?). In the 80s; the hitherto quirky Japanese brands started gaining traction. Companies like Toyota (based on their reliability and quality values) and Honda(refinement) became the brands of desire- Lexus,Accord and recently; the Prius.So much so that in emerging markets; the American/European brands didn't stand a chance in the desirability stakes. But today;on the back of a recession; its the Korean brands that seem to have taken centerstage.

Even in PCs; brands like IBM gave way to 'hip' brands like Apple.Which today are fighting for their 'hipness/tech' status with upstarts like Acer.In software - Microsoft upstaged IBMs OS but then became the 'big bad wolf' to Google .And today; the Google brand is fighting online upstarts in the 'cooltech' stakes.

Take mobilephones - Motorola (remember the cool flipphone and Startac?)gave way to Nokia. Today Nokia may be the world's largest selling brand but is it hip/iconic? That space belongs to IPhone/Blackberry in the top end, Samsung in the middle market and a host of Chinese brands in the bottom end.

Even in consumer electronics iconic TV brands moved from RCA to Philips to Sony to Samsung to "I don't know what's hip today!" pretty quickly.

Evidence suggests that increasingly, technology brands seem to lose their sheen soon after they become big. In the technology space 'trust' doesn't seem such a big deal after all;when compared to sexiness/performance/newness.


Its almost that technology customers are rooting for the underdog!

So how does a technology brand stay iconic ?

By assuming that brand decay is inevitable; despite your best efforts.

So does one you invest in the brand? Or reinvent it to keep it continuously fresh? Or just create a new brand using the resources and credibility of the cash cow mother brand?

I'm still to figure that one out but currently I am tending to the latter.

But what about financial brands?

Evidence suggests for financial brands it's the complete opposite! Trust is the biggest deal and newness be damned! The older the brand, the bigger it gets(like compounded returns!).

But then that's the topic for a different post!

Cheers.

Motilal Oswal Education Films: About Time Someone Did This

In the stock markets some people make money. And many make mistakes.

The reason why there's a new campaign from Motilal Oswal that helps educate investors and traders about some basic home truths of investing/trading in shares that will help avoid these mistakes.

We keep telling these truths to clients when we meet them or when we present to them. Taking it onto a broader canvas was the next logical step.

There are three films that try to drive home these truths

Film 1 tells people that there are two styles - Investing & Trading. Investing is like a test match(long term, patience, fundamentals oriented etc) while Trading is like 20-20 cricket( fast paced, quick decisions, buy-sell is momentum oriented, high risk-high return etc). Both have their role. But you need to be sure as to what your style is. We have a profiler that helps people find out just that. Which they can get done on the phone if they call us.

Film 2 highlights a common mistake many people make. Which is that they start off being investors and then somewhere let their emotions or market pressure get to them and suddenly become traders. This is a dangerous situation. Somewhat like playing a Dilscoop to a bouncer in a test match. It may come -off once; but eventually its going to hurt you. So whether you are an investor or a trader; its important to stick to your gameplan. A difficult task no doubt; but who said its easy making money.A booklet that you can write to Motilal Oswal for helps you do that.

Film 3 is targetted to traders. Traders often get so caught up in the action of trading that they forget to keep a safety net. Almost like going to bat without putting your pads and other protection on. Trading is a high-risk/high-return game. While we look forward to the high returns ; we should try to minimise the high risk as well. And that's what Stop-Loss does. Writing to Motilal Oswal gets you a booklet on Stop Loss, how to use it and another one on how to be a successful trader. Stop Loss is the helmet that helps you face the bouncers in the market with confidence!

The films are on air since a week and have received an encouraging response.

Have a look and tell me what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwjO7ntBOTs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAAurpwz5Go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDFpIwSvPks


Cheers