Cause marketing

"The business of business is business"
                                                      -Milton Friedman

 "I have never met a person who can change the world with out my money."


As a society, we mastered the skill of skepticism. And who can say that skepticism is bad.It actually helps us to identify the right choices most of the times.

But the skeptic customer can sometimes be the most loyal customer and once if we can grab him,he will be loyal. Confused? Simple! He is skeptic anyway so he won't go to another marketer that easily.

The funda is clear.Never believe in prosumers, who will adapt everything at the first sight.These are the guys who will fall in love at first sight.No guarantee about the number of  first sights they encounter in their life. So, if you are a traditional business, they will make u bleed and so try to get the skeptic consumer,he will be brand loyal for some time.Hence the base for break-even is skeptic consumer.


"I have never met a person who can change the world with out my money."

I have heard this roughly 4 years back from a not-so-known person but it is back of my mind from then on. I was actually thinking of how to win over these people to make them donate for the right-cause. These kind of people are very skeptic.They are not the people who believe in everything we speak.These are not the guys who get emotional at everything they see in life.


Simply,these are not the people who pull out wallets at the first sight of beggars. They have their own funda of charity.

Then the question is "How to get the money from these guys when you are genuine?"

Dhaval(CEO,Give India) in his "Cause marketing" says there is a way.The way is to apply the principles of "Cause marketing".He tries to explain with the example of "Jaago rey"Tea campaign and uses "Social responsibility activities" of Makemytrip to support his arguments.

I dont want to make this blog lengthier and at the same time, really want to write about this cause marketing.So, will write a second blog on this soon.

Reminiscence- Aravind Eye care systems

In late December-2011, when the train reached Madurai; a gentle breeze greeted 450+ battalion. Its the place of Goddess Meenakshi and to reach there, we almost did an adventure of speeding in more pace than a oncoming storm.Now,for me and many in the battalion, Madurai is no more an important religious place.

When I used to think about Social-entrepreneurship, it was simply a high-level NGO which speaks of malice in the society and cries for the money and just put a face that they are good things so they are not growing.

There came an attitudinal change. Aravind  Eye care systems were introduced. Believe me, now whenever I think of a perfect business or a business which is actually stick to its vision,Aravind Eye care systems cross my mind. Thanks to Dr.S.Aravind, who didn't give a Gyan speech but made us think beyond the walls of physical miracle before our eyes.He touched my imagination and one way he advised not to force self to do things because in long run force remains and beauty vanishes.

The words of Dr.V started resounding in his speech,"There must be something beautiful in doing things." Its difficult.I can't imagine a billionaire coming up saying 'I built this beauty.' He simply says,'I built an empire' and the underlying indication is he is an emperor. I may sound illogical but I used to feel business and beauty are contradictory and they cant coexist.

Now, let me stop the talking and let me show you a video.One of my favorite video and forget not to praise the charm of lady and glow in her eyes and behind it all, there is a man who built a system which is extra-efficient and he is "Dr.V"

Here is the video and do share your thoughts

Its always not about which side we take...!

Till a few months back, I was hearing the concerns and complaints of fellow veterinarians (especially in Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh) about the effects of BT cotton on the over all health of dairy animals and small ruminants(Sheep and Goat). Even I prescribed the detoxicants assuming the effect of cotton fields as they grazed in BT cotton fields. Among veterinarians, a few argued, its the rampant use of fertilizers in Bt cotton fields and a few argued about the toxins in the form of proteins being developed in BT cotton. Though I don't know about the right argument; I am a direct witness of the BT cotton on animal health.

There were times when the cotton farmers suicides were a daily news item. At certain places of Andhra pradesh,there were panic situations and as usual the political mantra was ex gratia and at that time, as I learned(open to interpretations), every one was numb about the advent of  BT cotton. The hands were shook with that big boss to bring in the technology and the story followed. But can we deny the fact that cotton farmers suicides came down? The cotton farming is a relatively stable business now. 

There is political angle to every problem in India. Last year, AP Government couldn't supply the cotton seeds and there were several gimmicks associated with it and not going into details of it; I infer that farmers are willing to grow cotton. Now what do we call it? Lack of public participation-its not really right to conclude. I'm not saying that whatever Government proposes is right but do we expect utopia in every situation.Its a democracy but even in democracies, its always sense of possibilities which should prevail. 

Now, yes its about the BRAI bill which caught my attention and these are my instant flow of thoughts............

(To be continued...)

3 things to do before A.P Assembly polls-2014(for rural areas)

To my best of belief and judgement, present ruling congress Government should do these 3 things in/for rural areas before going to 2014 polls. Leaving the thought of whether they will win/lose; it can be helpful as a damage mitigation measures or can set an example for next coming Government.

1) Immediately they should go for panchayat elections and they should conduct them fairly without thinking about winning/losing it.If they win,they can take it a chance to project a few more good policies into place and if they lose,they have to accept the defeat and has to commit themselves for pro-people policies.By doing this,they will get the stopped Central Government funds for basic sanitation,drinking water and street lights. Along with this they have to commit at least Rs.1000/voter to the Gram Panchayats in 2013-14 budget.They should not ear mark at least Rs.300/voter to any particular activity thus giving a Gram Sabha a chance to decide their priorities. They should deploy a few special officers to look into this at every stage and social audit should be conducted at least once in 3 months till 2014.

2) In agriculture,they should release the subsidy amount of loans immediately, even at the cost of stopping educational camps like Rythu Chaitanya Yatralu, Palle badi etc .They should pay the subsidy amount of loans to banks in time so that they can stop charging the farmers the full interest on loans. The bank managers should be given strict instructions not to ask deposits from a farmer when he had his loan amount still not repaid.

3)Final move should come in the form of starting the insurance scheme for every one suffering from ill-health and I believe,it will be a game-changer for Congress party as 108 and Arogyasri has brought Y.S.R back to power in 2009. The logic that the present pension scheme and P.D.S scheme of Government is neither satisfying the needs nor satiety of  many people and our white ration card system in shambles,they have to start the insurance scheme for frequently affecting diseases like Diarrhoea,Fever,Malaria etc., and they should notify certain clinics along with Government hospitals and  hospitals irrespective of being Government/Private can claim the amount for the treatment they have given. Certain Special Officers(Chosen meticulously) should be deployed at District level and major towns of the District to look after this and social audit to be conducted once in 3 months for this (More study needs to be done and can be solidified after 2014)

Getting it right...!

                                 "If truth has to triumph,we must first ensure that it doesn't kill."

         The suicide of Aaron Swartz can serve as an wake up call for the international community. For India,we have several wake up calls earlier but the things didn't change much.Though Indian situations differ with Aaron's case,I take this opportunity to look at Indian things.
        
        In 2003,SatyendraNath Dubey was murdered as he exposed the corruption in the construction of Golden Quadrilateral.It was followed by the murder of Shanmugan Manjunath in 2005 and it followed by many more.

        There are several loop holes in our governance,public system and these murders in some way reflect them. The corruption of Golden Quadrilateral is highlighted by Dubey's murder but we should equally remember that Larsen & Turbo has given sub-contracts to incompetent contractors. This particular thing exposes the loop holes of our governance.

         Recently,the case of Salman Khurseed's N.G.O accusing it of faking the beneficiaries names,not organizing camps etc., but it should be widely known that it happens with many of the welfare departments of Government both at central and state level.Hyping figures is one more common phenomenon with our Government departments and many N.G.O's.

        The solution is to institutionalize checks and balances rather than burdening a few honest courageous people.The citizens charters should be established and widely publicized and social audit in regular intervals for all the government offices and N.G.O's should be conducted and a local ombudsman system should be brought in with enough teeth.Apart from this, improper power should be stopped through decentralization of power.

      The truth should triumph,the burden on a few individuals should be lessened and collective institutionalized corrective action should be promoted.

You know how it feels

You know how it feels,when I come to know that I live in the same nation where people rape till death.
You know how it feels,When all it matters to a tribe of people is their power and their progeny's future.
You know how it feels,when you take money from some business house to decide our fate.
You know how it feels, when I sit idle doing non-sense when a young generation out there is fighting for dignity.
You know,how it feels when a police officer comments on a girls rape as disguised prostitution.

You know,how it feels when a few bargain for commission and cuts when people are dying with hunger.
You know,how it feels when conscience questions, 'Is this the nation you inherited?','Is this the nation Swami vivekananda,C.R.Das,Netaji,bhaghat dreamt ?
It feels like banging some thing,some one;it feels rest less, it feels like learning to operate a gun and it feels like crying and it feels like crying.
The more horrible is involuntarily imagining my near and dear in the girls being raped.
I cant help it and I couldn't concentrate on my work from last 1 hour.I'm help less.

Politics is the art and scope of possibilities

                                  "Politics is the art and scope of possibilities"

                  Arvind Kejriwal, a cogent orator and an impeccable strategist is catching the public attention and     as the nation was looking for a hope, a stage has been set for a new kind of politics and if there is any person who has took the complete advantage of this is Kejriwal, himself.

                 The man with simple looks and fine ideas is naturally a better leader. He wrote in 'Swaraaj' about self-governance, giving power to local bodies and village budgets.The fathers of our constitution couldn't give much freedom to villages keeping those day circumstances in mind.
 
                Now the time has ripe for many things and people are ready to follow a leadership of honest origins and sensitivity and Arvind is banking on it but the real question is, Is his approach right? Could he lead this movement in future with the same momentum? Does his perfectionist stand will help to take right measures to build a right nation?

             This nation in many ways is a paradox. We believe our system as a pseudo-democracy largely controlled by opportunist-politicians and crowny-capitalists. Arvind  believes the same and  has spoken of over-hauling the system in mere 10 days after he gets into power.If it happens,world history will have a page for miracle.A miracle larger than the collapse of Berlin wall.

           In the same nation,the media has utmost freedom,the people are free to pursue their interests and they can hit streets whenever they want.They can burn any effigy of their choice and they can bring any one to power and they can throw any one from power peacefully. More than this,this nation had seen a brilliant set of political reforms in the recent past. Majority of this political reforms have taken place with out people hitting the streets and irony is the majority of people didn't even know about these political reforms. All the memory can catch is RTI.

         Before taking on some one,its important to understand, who are the victims? and who are the culprits? and in Indian system, we largely find victims rather than culprits.The politicians and capitalists,whom the general public hate a lot are victims. If the system was right always,they would have been right in many ways. Now if you speak of punishing every one even not leaving the victims may work for some time but its end results will be unfair for the majority.

         Instead of concentrating on past happenings, blame-games, if Kejriwal team can think about right policy implementation and instead of entertaining people with plenty of issues,if they can concentrate on taking up the few issues and fight till the end will make a sense,if they want to institutionalize the honesty.
 
       Its not a 3 hour film which can be shot in an year or so and released for a week in a theater and then count your collections based on the entertainment you provided to the people and in films you can create as many villians as you want but the nations can't be build in an year or you can't run a 'change reel' for an odd 3 hours.It needs unending patience and if you keep on telling people that we will change the nation pretty soon, there is a chance of killing the movement in the same time-frame they are visualizing.

      The perfectionist stand will definitely not help as the politics is the art and scope of possibilities. We cant run the show as we want. We need to run it as per the possibilities. If you keep on building pressure on victims,who may be in power now; it deteriorate things rather than helping the things.Some one need to learn of making the way brick-by-brick and i.e., an amendment after amendment.

       Definitely, we need a nation where right and instant justice will be the pillars of our governance but at the same time we need to understand that we don't need a nation only for prosecutions and punishments.

         The think-tank of Kejriwal team has to introspect this question-What the end result we want out of this movement in both the best and the worst case?Biting more than what your mouth can afford is suicidal and in this nation its pretty possible to build a silent and strong revolution and Arvind and his team has every advantage now.