Comments on Jessie Paul on No Money Marketing: Soft power: Why India needs a Brand Plan

this is an really informative article i hope i can...

2010-05-11T20:34:25.580+05:30

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We Indians need to kick ourselves hard for not hav...

2010-03-12T15:18:52.661+05:30

We Indians need to kick ourselves hard for not having recognized the soft power a long long time ago.

One of the essentials of soft power as well as non money marketing is what I call the concept of free agents. Who is to sell brand India? Is it just Indian businesses that have something to gain directly from it? I would argue that it's mainly the Indian population that needs to do the selling, regardless of direct, immediate benefits. Look at some of the ideas that have spread online virally - Facebook, Youtube, Twitter ..... Their users were not incentivized (at least not explicitly) to market these properties. But the users did. Why?

1) They felt there was incremental benefit to themselves, if their friends started using these services too.

2) They attached importance to the fact that they were users of these properties. They either felt proud or good being part of these cool things.

The question we need to ask ourselves is whether Indians feel that the their Indianness is important, something to be proud of, something to feel good about. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying Indians are not patriotic. Indians do love India - the cricket team, the parathas, the movies. But, beyond that, do Indians feel their Indianness is valuable enough? Given a chance to be Americans or Europeans, would they still choose to be Indians? Doubtful. Would Indians ever start respecting the law of their own land as religiously as they would abroad. Would Indians even stop valuing their own mother tongue beyond English? Would Indians ever stop queuing up outside the immigration offices happily swallowing insults?

When these questions can get an answer in the affirmative, I guess, soft power can starting working for India.

Fantastic article! But we are already doing a lot...

2010-02-01T14:10:08.549+05:30

Fantastic article!

But we are already doing a lot.
India is being promoted as an investment destination. Its huge population is attracting lot of MNC's in Telecom, Banking, PE, Media and entertainment.
We have world famous tourist destinations like Goa, Kerala, Agra, Rajastan, Assam etc.
Asianet has captured a lot of viewers at Middle-east, with their global brand.
Mahatma Gandhiji and Mother Teresa has promoted brand India in terms of peace and so does a lot of spiritual leaders like Osho foundation, The Art of Living foundation, Iskon etc.
A lot of artist like paintings of Raja Ravi Verma, MF Hussain did catch a lot of eye in the west.
Bank like OBC, SBI, HDFC, ICICI etc have presence abroad.
Your own industry IT did wonders for our economy.
Dabbawala is a popular case study in most leading management institutions.
IPL has promoted cricket as a whole in a big way. Sports personals like Vishwanath Anand, Dyanchand, Sachin Tendulkar, Premchand Degra, Prakash Pudukone, Vishwanath Anand, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupati, Saina Naiwal, and Sania Mirza etc...
Bollywood numbers are popular.
We have a huge population of NRI's who are knowingly or unknowingly promoting our brand.
India is slowly emerging as a destination for medical tourism.
The list is endless.
Although there has been a lot of unwanted attention and negative publicity because of terror attacks, but that’s a global phenomena. Such event instills fear. But it does also show our resiliency.

We have done so much to promote our brand. But we need to promote it still more. Why just the govt, it for everybody. Corporate citizens, universities, doctors, people etc.

Hello Jessie, While I agree there is always room ...

2010-01-19T20:00:20.340+05:30

Hello Jessie,

While I agree there is always room to do it better, to say "India, for its wealth of marketing assets, hasn’t really put together a marketing plan." is a bit unfair. I think the Incredible India and India Everywhere (in Davos) were pretty well conceived and well executed.

But your point it well taken - we need to do a better job.

(btw: I read the book - you have shared some very useful insights - Thanks!)

PB

Hi "no money marketing" is a good collecion of ide...

2009-12-31T18:25:10.718+05:30

Hi
"no money marketing" is a good collecion of ideas which may work for large service oriented companies. but there is nothing "frugal" about it.
I was very much enthused by the books review in the week magazine.
Bought it immediately. read it from cover to cover.
but it was disappointing to know that the examples given by author are only for service industries and that tooo for biggies only. like Infosys, wipro and the ilk. how their marketing budgets can be said "frugal"?
and certainly the price is on steep side. i.e. Rs. 395 for 186 pages. certainly it is not frugal again.
the word "flat world" has been overkilled.

warm regards,
Javed
new delhi

Nice thought Jessie. Loved it..

2009-12-14T19:29:21.386+05:30

Nice thought Jessie. Loved it..

I like concept the concept of 'Soft Pwer' and the ...

2009-12-13T20:04:08.566+05:30

I like concept the concept of 'Soft Pwer' and the definition you have referred to.

I was talking to Chetan Bhagat the hotselling author and it is obvious he is using 'soft power' and becoming a role model. (you will the complete interview in www.ideasrs.com in the forthcoming week).

Spot on! And the only way to make the outreach pro...

2009-12-13T15:52:38.397+05:30

Spot on! And the only way to make the outreach programs succeed is to have the government structure and provide the platform, but have it funded and run as a private initiative.