HP, Adobe and Fuji came togther to take advantage of this unique opportunity to touch base with photographers at the first Better Photography Inner Circle. As a key function of the Inner Circle, Better Photography was to conduct One Day workshops that will be targeted for two separate communities Prosumer – Event Photo and Videographers and Photo Studio Owners. A team of 3 people went to Cochin, Coimbatore, Madurai, Vijaywada, Pune, Surat, Ahmedabad, Indore, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Jalandar, Ludhiana and Lucknow to educate readers on how to improve their businesses and how to become more profitable. The event was unique because the three companies for the first time managed to get an economical platfomr to reach thei community to sell their products directly and take them on boward as their dealers.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Better Photography Inner Circle
HP, Adobe and Fuji came togther to take advantage of this unique opportunity to touch base with photographers at the first Better Photography Inner Circle. As a key function of the Inner Circle, Better Photography was to conduct One Day workshops that will be targeted for two separate communities Prosumer – Event Photo and Videographers and Photo Studio Owners. A team of 3 people went to Cochin, Coimbatore, Madurai, Vijaywada, Pune, Surat, Ahmedabad, Indore, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Jalandar, Ludhiana and Lucknow to educate readers on how to improve their businesses and how to become more profitable. The event was unique because the three companies for the first time managed to get an economical platfomr to reach thei community to sell their products directly and take them on boward as their dealers.
Photographer of the year
What began as a magazine article and a a small contest today is one of the biggest property of Better Photography. The edit team was excited about a their new concept of finding a Photographer of the year... but what evolved next was totally un-thought of...1) 7 topics and rounds of photography contest
2) 7 rounds of rigorous judging by top photographers in India
3) 9 months of preparation
4) 2.5 lakhs of cash and gift
5) Intel, Olympus and Epson being the main sponsors
6) A grand finale face-off of the top 6 winners.
7) a grand event at Bangalore to declare the photographer of the year.
The event was a big success and became an even bigger event in 2009 with Nikon the main
sponsor....
AVMAX redesign
Again another redesign project... the magazine needed it... the old design was too dated, the new design was to instill a lot of confidence, boldness and a strong flavour of tech in the magazine, that it lacked... The magazine had to be totally restructured and the personality had to be suited to the brand objectives....
Auto Expo - Experience
In India the mecca of automobiles, for an auto enthusiast is the Auto expo... The once in two year exhibition is spread across the entire Pragati Maidan. Overdrive had their stall at AUTOEXPO 2006 at over 4 locations and the main one is shown in the photograph... the complete execution was handled entirely by the team and Avijit and the edit team were key to the entire activity... other than regular subscription revenue generation, we had a Auto game challenge, a design challenge and a fully modified swift from coimbatore....while the event was for a week, it was 20 day camp that made the event long enough to remember for a lifetime...
Overdrive redesigned
When a magazine is already established for the last 8 years and has been following a set design pattern, sections, photography and writing style, then inertia takes on and people who are passionate about what they built over the last 8 years will defend it with the zeal of mother protecting her young ones... well that's what i felt when i was given the project of getting the magazine redesigned... GV Sreekumar from IDC, IIT powai was given the task of redeig, but an even bigger task was to convince the edit team about the necesity to change the design... thats where passion countered logic and aesthetics to form my stiffest competition to change....The magazine saw the light of the day on Jan 2006...
Overdrive Rally of Pune
This was perhaps one of the most exciting projects I have worked on... imagine working on an entire rally that is the first round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) and all the top rally drivers were a part of it... including Narain, Karambir and a whole lot of them... The evnt was held from May 5 to 7, 2006.This was incidentally the first rally for the MAI run INRC to start from Pune and then have 6 more legs in various parts of India... It was also the first for Gaurav Gill who later on went to represent MRF in APRC and become the first India to become the APRC champion in 2008.
The crack team essentially comprised of the Western India Sports Association managed by Ashwin Pandit, The Overdrive Edit team and ofcourse me and my marketing team....
That year the event was also adjuged the best managed INRC event for 2006, by MAI...
There were 35-strong entry list with tough competition the 1600cc, 1400cc, Rally Star Cup and Gypsy cup categories.
The OVERDRIVE Rally of Pune kicked off with the ceremonial start at 8:00pm at the Club CPR premises on May 4th followed by a parade of the rally cars through Pune city. The following day spectators caught a glimpse of the rally action up close and personal as rally cars take to the super special stage laid out at the Balewadi sports complex. Complete with jumps and ultra fast corners this is an ideal opportunity for spectators to meet the rally drivers and also get a first hand look at the thrilling sport of rallying. On May 6 and 7 the rally action moves to the special stages at Shirur village, 75km from Pune city on the Aurangabad highway. Breathtakingly fast tarmac stages greet the rally drivers and spectators will be able to catch rally cars hitting top speeds of nearly 190kmph on these smooth stages. A number of spectator points have also been identified where one can follow the rally action for over four kilometres. The rally ended with the champagne showers at the Club CPR premises on Sunday afternoon.
Overdrive Awards 2006
All I can say about this award was that i had single handedly executed this event and one of the best stages that I have got executed... but to support me i did have the deli team, Archana and Avijit... and yes my friend Adarsh who helped me out with nuances... but yes that was probably on the end event I am talking about... the entire story started much before... with the shortlisting of the best cars, bikes, people in the auto industry and doing the judging rounds at Pune at the Corianthian club.... the edit team spear headed by Yogendra Pratap did a great job of choosing the winners through a complicated judging process.... the grand finale was held in the backgrounds of the AUto Expo 2006 at the Taj Palace in new delhi... the whos who of the wuto manufacturing industry were present adn so were Narain Karthikeyan and Dilip Chabria...
DB Drag show
The DB Drag event world wide is a competition to build the most potent Card Audio system that delivers the most decibels inside a car... with care taken, the system integrator has to sit in the car when he plays a standard calibrated music at in-humanly high sound levels.... We did the same in Bangalore during the Vaahan Yatra at the palace grounds in 2005. Bopanna and Harish Kamat from my Bangalore team were there with me through the execution... Zareer owned the rights for the competition to be held in India. Yohan from my AVmax edit team was part of the jodging process.. some of the general infomration on DB Drag....dB Drag Racing Competition
dB Drag Racing is an auto sound competition format where competitors compete against one another to see who has the loudest car stereo system. This is the fundamental basis for a dB Drag Racing event.
The dB Drag Racing Association (dBDRA) has gone to great lengths to insure that the rules for competing in dB Drag Racing are as comprehensive and unambiguous as possible. Even so, there will invariably be times when a particular application or installation will fall outside the scope of this rulebook. When those occasions arise, it is the responsibility of the head judge to make a determination as to whether the incident in question abides by the “spirit” of dB Drag Racing competition. As a competitor, it is your responsibility to understand the rules contained in this book and to abide by any decisions rendered by the head judge.
dB Drag Racing Creed
- I will never operate my system in a manner that will disturb those around me. - I will never operate my system in a manner that could result in injury. - I will never operate my system in violation of the law. - I will do my best to represent the sport of dB Drag Racing in a positive fashion. - I will conduct myself in a professional manner while participating at events. - I will do my best to support those companies and retailers who support our sport. - I will always abide by the dB Drag Racing rules when competing and will do my best to insure that others abide by the rules as well.
Safety Guidelines
The safety of the competitors, judges, and bystanders at a dB Drag Racing event are of paramount importance. As the operator of the competition vehicle and its sound system, the competitor has a tremendous responsibility both to himself and to those around him with regards to safety. Competitors should clearly understand the following issues prior to participating in a dB Drag Racing event.
- Operation of a motor vehicle is inherently dangerous. You MUST insure that the operation of your vehicle will not endanger yourself or those around you. Please adhere to all local laws and verify that your pathway is clear before moving your vehicle. Although officiating staff members may sometimes offer assistance in moving and/or directing traffic, the responsibility for the operation of the competition vehicle ultimately lies with the competitor. - Auto sound systems are capable of producing high sound pressure levels. Exposure to high sound pressure levels may cause hearing damage. NEVER operate your sound system in such a manner as to expose yourself or others to high sound pressure levels. In addition, listening to your sound system at high volumes while driving may prevent you from hearing emergency vehicles, vehicle or train horns, etc. Always operate your sound system in accordance with local laws and never operate your sound system in a manner that could interfere with the safe operation of your vehicle. This includes making adjustments to your sound system while you are driving. - Custom auto sound installations may affect the safety and/or integrity of your vehicle. Although some competitors may elect to have their sound system installed by others, it is ultimately the competitor’s responsibility to validate that his or her installation is safe. Particular care should be taken with regards to electrical wiring. All power wires should be fused directly at the battery to minimize the risk of a fire hazard. Sound components such as speakers, amplifiers, enclosures, etc. should be fastened to the vehicle in such as way as to prevent them from causing injury or damage in the event of an accident. Vehicles that have been structurally modified to accommodate the sound system or vehicles that exceed the maximum gross weight limits as detailed in the vehicle’s operating manual should never be driven on public streets or highways.
The dB Drag Racing Association and its affiliates are not qualified to determine the safety and/or legality of a given competition vehicle. This responsibility lies with the competitor. As such, the dB Drag Racing Association and its affiliates cannot be responsible for any accidents, damages, or injuries that occur at a dB Drag Racing event. By participating in a dB Drag Racing event, the competitor agrees to take full responsibility for his or her actions and any accidents, damages, or injuries that may occur. The dBDRA strongly encourages competitors to operate their vehicles and sound systems in a manner that is consistent with local laws. Flagrant disregard for safety will result in disqualification and subsequent ejection from the event.
Cricinfo Magazine
This was an interesting stint in my career... a project that was very interesting and enthralling only because you get to work on a subject that the entire nation is crazy about, to the extent of fanatism...
But when the first time I was introduced to the subject my reaction was... "A CRICKET MAGAZINE" that too in India.... well my reaction was not misplaced because of what i thought about the sport and the medium that needed to support it...
1) Cricket by then had become an entertainment sport... One-day Format had already taken the gentleman out of the sport and the sport out of a gentleman...
2) Spectators (inside and outside) had become restless and looking for a galdiator-kind of sport rather than the statistics and passion that preceded in the test format.
3) The Twenty-20 format had just beginning to get in, in the form corporate T20 tournaments
4) The medium itself had migrated from the test eras to now, from newspaper - radio-Tv- Live TV and in each progression the sport became more and more entertaining and less and less informative
5) onlookers of yesteryears probably still remember the stroke that Bradman or Halls played and who caught the last wicket of that match... but now all that matter is who wins and who is the star cricketr.
6) Cricket had become a lifestyle statement and cricketers had outgrown the folds of magazine and got into page 3 broadsheets and the silver screens gave them more mileage...
7) Moreover while this was a masses game, Indian predominantly read lesser newspapers and even lesser magazine that too an english magazine... Advertising a key component would heavily depend on who reads and how many of them... Advertiser too wanted the masses glued on to Televisions than the passionate few who
the magazine got launched... I was a part of the team and the brand manager... but after about 2 years of operations, it was put to rest...
But when the first time I was introduced to the subject my reaction was... "A CRICKET MAGAZINE" that too in India.... well my reaction was not misplaced because of what i thought about the sport and the medium that needed to support it...
1) Cricket by then had become an entertainment sport... One-day Format had already taken the gentleman out of the sport and the sport out of a gentleman...
2) Spectators (inside and outside) had become restless and looking for a galdiator-kind of sport rather than the statistics and passion that preceded in the test format.
3) The Twenty-20 format had just beginning to get in, in the form corporate T20 tournaments
4) The medium itself had migrated from the test eras to now, from newspaper - radio-Tv- Live TV and in each progression the sport became more and more entertaining and less and less informative
5) onlookers of yesteryears probably still remember the stroke that Bradman or Halls played and who caught the last wicket of that match... but now all that matter is who wins and who is the star cricketr.
6) Cricket had become a lifestyle statement and cricketers had outgrown the folds of magazine and got into page 3 broadsheets and the silver screens gave them more mileage...
7) Moreover while this was a masses game, Indian predominantly read lesser newspapers and even lesser magazine that too an english magazine... Advertising a key component would heavily depend on who reads and how many of them... Advertiser too wanted the masses glued on to Televisions than the passionate few who
the magazine got launched... I was a part of the team and the brand manager... but after about 2 years of operations, it was put to rest...
New CRN
In 2002, 1 year after I started working with CRN, I was grappling with quite a few challenges. To start with, the editorial costs needed to be controlled, then the cost of production and finally the need for a new design more contemporary and needed a magazine rather than a tabloid look. We eventually came up with a new size, unqiue for a magazine, but it did three things...
1) While the magazine was longer than a regular magazine, but gave a feeling of a tabloid.
2) The magazine size reduced the number of words per page hence increasing the number of pages with the same number of stories.3) The design adapted was the international designe adopted from CRN-USA
4) The magazine shifted from printing on sheetfed to web offset5) Center pinning changed to perfect binding giving it a more wholesome look and changed perception of our reader
6)Also with the larger objective in mind to segregate the magazine content from the website content. the website and the newsletter was now very newsy and the magazine had to be given a analytical and feature-ish look...the new design worked wonders...
Cinevision
Cinevision is the company owned by Siddharth kak, and one of the tele serials that was popular for its Indian facts was , Surabhi. Coruscant tec tied up withe the company to provide mobility solutions. The idea was to take their video content and package it into interesting video clips that could be downloaded onto a gprs enable mobile phone. The content was rich in heritage and indian customs that made it so special for downloads.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnlFSc0ULG0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnlFSc0ULG0
MTV - Loveline
One of the interesting mobile projects was to with integration of an international dating platform with MTV and garner revenues for both on MTV and us.
One of Coruscant partners, AIRG has a dating platform, Mon Ami... the platform can be customised to the level that the user in India feels that he/she is actually on a MTV platform...
MTV had an existing property Loveline that fit perfectly into the property and hence the birth of a new property "MTV Loveline", a dating platform for the youth.
I never stayed long enough with the company to know the success of the property. But the property did go live on MTV for a brief period in 2005, till the entire team changed there after...
One of Coruscant partners, AIRG has a dating platform, Mon Ami... the platform can be customised to the level that the user in India feels that he/she is actually on a MTV platform...
MTV had an existing property Loveline that fit perfectly into the property and hence the birth of a new property "MTV Loveline", a dating platform for the youth.
I never stayed long enough with the company to know the success of the property. But the property did go live on MTV for a brief period in 2005, till the entire team changed there after...
Mansworld - mobile images
One of my first activity in the mobile world was the Mansworld mobile images...Mansworld was is a leading mens magazine that also has a large collection of great images shot by Harsh Man Rai... additionally N Radhakrishnan (Editor) had the vision to do something actively on the mobile platform that will help increase TOM recall of Mansworld...
We ended up converting over 1000 images of mansworld suiting it to over 100 handsets and a new revenue medium for Manworld in addition to the publicity...
Creative Design Tour
One of the interesting, content rich events I had designed for the design Community.
This was an event designed for the Design Community and The design community, by nature of its profession, has always relied on high end computing technologies. Be it storage devices, imaging solutions or display devices, they have always challenged the limits and consequently given a significant boost to drive their growth.
The design community in India is largely unorganized; the only internationally recognised association for Indian designers being the Indian Graphic Designers Forum, based in Mumbai. Therefore addressing this community is a major challenge because of dearth of platforms.
However, there are some players like Adobe and Macromedia who are making constant efforts to reach out to this community and build better relationships with them. Adobe’s seminar workshop across the nation, where they address over 100 designers is a good instance of their effort.
The Creative Design Tour: The turning point for contemporary designers Recognising the fact that there aren’t ample platforms addressing this important community with ever growing technological requirements, Digit—India’s leading technology magazine has entered into a strategic partnership with Adobe and devised a co-branded event —The Creative Design Tour.
This event will not only impart workshops on Adobe’s latest suites but share insights on key technologies like storage, imaging and display which are imperative to the designers of today.
The event was targeted towards the following target audience, who has to qualify in order to participate in this event:
- Creative Directors
- Art Directors
- Studio Managers
- Graphic Designers
- Creative Technology Managers
- Print Production Managers
the three prominent speakers for the three events in Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai respectively were:
Mr. Madhu Krishna, CEO, Creative Director, Signet
Sudarshan Dheer - the doyen of corporate design (identity programmes, communication projects, literature, packaging and Signage Systems), established Graphic Communication Concepts, his own design workshop, in 1974.
Deepak Joshi, Creative Director, Euro RSCG
This was an event designed for the Design Community and The design community, by nature of its profession, has always relied on high end computing technologies. Be it storage devices, imaging solutions or display devices, they have always challenged the limits and consequently given a significant boost to drive their growth.
The design community in India is largely unorganized; the only internationally recognised association for Indian designers being the Indian Graphic Designers Forum, based in Mumbai. Therefore addressing this community is a major challenge because of dearth of platforms.
However, there are some players like Adobe and Macromedia who are making constant efforts to reach out to this community and build better relationships with them. Adobe’s seminar workshop across the nation, where they address over 100 designers is a good instance of their effort.
The Creative Design Tour: The turning point for contemporary designers Recognising the fact that there aren’t ample platforms addressing this important community with ever growing technological requirements, Digit—India’s leading technology magazine has entered into a strategic partnership with Adobe and devised a co-branded event —The Creative Design Tour.
This event will not only impart workshops on Adobe’s latest suites but share insights on key technologies like storage, imaging and display which are imperative to the designers of today.
The event was targeted towards the following target audience, who has to qualify in order to participate in this event:
- Creative Directors
- Art Directors
- Studio Managers
- Graphic Designers
- Creative Technology Managers
- Print Production Managers
the three prominent speakers for the three events in Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai respectively were:
Mr. Madhu Krishna, CEO, Creative Director, Signet
Sudarshan Dheer - the doyen of corporate design (identity programmes, communication projects, literature, packaging and Signage Systems), established Graphic Communication Concepts, his own design workshop, in 1974.
Deepak Joshi, Creative Director, Euro RSCG
New Digit
In 2003 the IT scenario was changing from a technology geek wanting to be updated on fast moving changes to technology being a mass phenomena...Knowing IT products was no longer a necessity to survive, the applications are so dumbed down that it no longer is essential to know about the technology per se. There was a huge secondary audience in this segment and the so called Geek audience was not growing as fast it was growing earlier.
That's when Digit had to be a Solution Centric Magazine, away from its 5 years of Product centric approach. It had to talk to 4 set of Audiences - Power Users, SoHo, SMB and Casual Users, thats when Sections was broadly classified as Passion, Tools, Business and Entertainment....
The thought process was nevertheless interesting:
Slide 7 Identify it with how the community uses or views technology and that was:
Hence the magazine....
The magazine was broadly divided into Five parts:
probably the time has now come to re look at the same and map it back to the existing market conditions....
The Structure was put in place by Gourav Jaswal from Synapse and the design by P M Hashim from the Cochin design firm Design Difference...
That's when Digit had to be a Solution Centric Magazine, away from its 5 years of Product centric approach. It had to talk to 4 set of Audiences - Power Users, SoHo, SMB and Casual Users, thats when Sections was broadly classified as Passion, Tools, Business and Entertainment....
The thought process was nevertheless interesting:
- Audience needs are changing: They don’t want a mobile phone, they want services.
- Technology may not have stopped fascinating us, but the degree to which it does has: Fifteen years ago, Jetking’s DIY electronic kits were a rage. Five years ago, mobile phones were fascinating. No longer.
- Technology has penetrated so deep, it has become invisible: Laptops are just tools for greater productivity and mobility, not so much objects of desire as much as they were two years ago.
- Technology by itself is not interesting; what it can do for you has become more relevant. Can I book tickets online, can I pay my bills online, can I connect to the Internet using my mobile phone, etc.
- Competitors are following our lead more than ever before. IC Chip, PC Quest, Living Digital, et al, try to flaunt the “cool, funky look”.
- How they followed us: Structure of magazine, Editorial, Back of the Book, tests, product-centric content, tables, opening visuals, models, etc.
- Competitors are following our lead more than ever before. IC Chip, PC Quest, Living Digital, et al, try to flaunt the “cool, funky look”.
- How they followed us: Structure of magazine, Editorial, Back of the Book, tests, product-centric content, tables, opening visuals, models, etc.
- We are no longer the aspirants for the title, but we are now the establishment; the magazine everyone wants to emulate.
- We have to stay ahead in the race, and take the first mover advantage.
- We need to set new standards all over again.
- As passion: A person may use technology because he simply loves technology, and is for greater number of avenues to enhance his knowledge on technology.
- As a tool: A person may want to improve his personal productivity, and would look to technology to make it simpler for him.
- For business purposes: A businessman uses technology to find out how it can help his organization save time, effort, and hence costs. He is also looking for return on investment.
- As and for entertainment: A reader would want to know how to access and use technology for personal entertainment.
- For the young and the passionate: Create avenues and sections that satiate his technolust.
- For the everyday, educated professional: Provide him with content relevant to his work needs. Allow him to exploit technology to get things done faster, with greater clarity, and at lower costs.
- For the aware businessman: Help him identify his opportunities for technology implementation, guide him through the process using his first-off-the-block peers, and make him aware of the benefits of technology.
- For everybody’s entertainment: Create entertaining content that will let him put his feet up and relax. And yes, participate.
Hence the magazine....
The magazine was broadly divided into Five parts:
- Enter: (Front of the Book) Interesting things to read from the world of technology from India and across the world
- Digital Passion: Fuelling the Pursuit for Technology Knowledge
- Digital Tools: Technology for Personal Productivity
- Digital Business: How Technology can help your Organisation
- Digital Leisure: Technology beyond work
- ESC: (Back of the Book and part of DL) For those relaxed times
probably the time has now come to re look at the same and map it back to the existing market conditions....
The Structure was put in place by Gourav Jaswal from Synapse and the design by P M Hashim from the Cochin design firm Design Difference...
ICE AGE movie
This was an interesting thing more from the point that for the first time in Indian publishing had someone bundled a full movie with a technology magazine...
In December 2003, we launched the award winning movie with Digit and created history... also for the first time had we got the entire print run audited for the entire 125,000 copies that were printed...
Icons of Trust
This was my second Research based project after CIA- CRN Industry Audit though much focused on the service aspect of a brand... while typically we were focusing on product testing that gave small term product performance and reliability, the true test came when we actually asked over 10000 respondent on their views of the products that we tested so far and then came a different view... while certain products were goo on short term, performance-wise, they really did not stand the challenge in terms of reliability.Two rounds of Icon of trust were done in 2004-2005... but after the team left (Sumod and me), the following teams were unable to carry the activity forward....
The results were published in the Jan 2004 and Jan 2005 issue of Digit.
Some of the companies that still refer to this award are:
Samsung: http://210.118.57.197/in/products/harddiskdrives/award/index.htm
Intex: http://www.intextechnologies.com/industry_recognition.html
Lenovo and a lot more....
Contest Carnival
One of the interesting innovations that we worked on was the contest carnival, it not only created a lot of excitement with our readers but also created a lot of buzz with our advertisers.
A new section was introduced in the magazine. This was a once-in-a-quarter feature that had lots of contests (about 15 of them), and would tease & challenge our readers through various kinds of fun-filled, participative game-based contests. These contests will be tied in from magazine to the website, and responses will be available with the click-of-the-mouse!
This is how the contest was detailed out for the advertiser......
Each contest will have a double spread layout (check the images). The design and presentation will be absolutely top-of-the-line keeping with the Digit style. Each layout will essentially have four major parts—
* The naming—Client will be given branding right from the name of the contest. An example could be “The Digit-Canon printing contest”.
* The left-band—Product photograph with a write-up will be presented in this band. It will be approx. of one column size. If the product review is available from immediate back-issues of Digit, we will carry that.
* The right-band—This is the most-innovative part of these contests. Three to four key questions, that the vendor wants to answer or opinion from the end-user will be carried here in questionnaire format. Answers to these questions will be compulsory part of participating in the contest. These will be invaluable from the vendor point of view, as a true-pulse of the market can be found out through this simple exercise.
* The Center part—This is where the contest / game will be detailed, along with the terms and directions to go to the ZDNetIndia site.
Planet Digit
This was another thrilling experience to have done an exhibition in such a different format...Planet Digit is a technology expo for end-users. It focuses on delivering a cutting edge experience to the prospective buying audience and help key vendors influence this audience to drive product sales. Planet Digit is also an attempt towards seamlessly integrating the magazine’s
content presentation into an expo format, thereby giving the audience an opportunity to not only ‘read about’ but also ‘interact with’ the technology and their drivers.Planet Digit is an amalgamation of vision, mission and ideas towards empowering the end-user to be technologically well informed on products and technologies that will determine the course of computing and digital lifestyle now, and in future.
Planet Digit is also a place for technology vendors to connect with the most powerful technology consumers in India. Powerful buyers and influencers from the Digital Generation converge on Planet Digit to evaluate and adopt some amazing innovations in computing, communications and entertainment systems.
The event comprised of four parts.
33% InsightsTech Tracks from Industry Gurus
- .Net - next generation platform for web services
- E-papers – the future of documentation
- Building Blocks of Technology
- Security
- Learning
33% Technology LiveTheme-based content pavilions10 topics—
- The future is mobile
- Cool portable computing
- Processor Power
- Build your PC
- Advanced digital imaging
- Intelligent appliances
- Career Directions
- Security
- The world of storage
33% Fun
- Gaming zone
- Entertainment zone
1% Envy
CARE - Channel Academy for Resources and Education
CARE – the concept
About Channel Academy: Over the Last 15 years of Channel evolution, channels have undergone an unstructured growth with an absolute lack of standards. While there has been a vendor specific effort in certain areas, the holistic growth has been boosted in some areas, while grossly stunted in other areas. Education will be the primary driver that will push the evolution of channels, and thus the IT economy to the new levels that we all strive for.
CRN in US has seen and experienced this and have invested resources to educate channels while empowering them with the right amount of skill sets to be ready challenges of tomorrow while rectifying the errors of yesterday. The institute for partners Education and Development (IPED) is their initiative to empower the channels through education.
OBJECTIVE: “To Create an educational platform for channels to provide insight & understanding about relevant business dynamics influencing their business”
The Channel Academy is committed to empowering information technology companies (channel partners) with insight and a complete understanding of multi-tier sales models—information that will shorten their learning curve, enabling vendor companies to develop, deploy and execute on channel strategies and programs that will drive their revenues, and thus the economy.
This would entail providing information, insight and knowledge to strengthen the IT products supply chain.
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The On ground events was one of the most satisfying and this was a combination of Rural marketing. Over a 2 year period we visited some 150 B, C and D class cities and townships explaining our audiences on how to do better business...
crnconnect - www.crn-india.com
We started the crn-india online project in 2002, when we wanted to give an alternative medium for daily updates to our audience - the channel partners. The idea was to offer news as it happens on a daily basis and shift the magazine to a higher platform of features, research and analysis. This subsequently also meant we redesigned the magazine to suit the above.
CRN online Strategy
CRN has been a brand primarily focusing on the Magazine and events medium. At this stage Online is one such medium, which is very important to gain mind share and at the same time educate the people on what is essential for their betterment in business.
Why is it important to have an online presence?
An online presence gives our readers the following advantages:
a. A ready source of information for any time reference from anywhere around the world
b. It is an effective medium to get better mind-share with our readers
c. It helps us use the online space to do more projects that is not limited by print space. In short gives more flexibility for brand extensions and editorial projects
d. The newsletter and subscriber services are very effective as a medium to influence readers to cross leverage of the print, events and online mediums.
e. The newsletters and other subscriber services give an advantage and an additional source of revenue.
CRN Online:
A) Current CRN Website:
The magazine content is uploaded on the website on the 1st and 15th of every month respectively for the respective issues.
B) Content related Services to be added:
This is one new service that would require a dedicated one-person team to source, file, upload and send newsletters on a daily basis. The sources of information for this would be:
1. Breaking News: The news in short or details, which will be of prime importance to partners but can only read it in our regular issues in detail but should get a brief idea before it comes out in print. On an average we get around 5 such articles in a fortnight.
2. Press Release and contributed articles: We get about 30 press releases every fortnight. It will be up to the online editor to decide and post at least 10 to 15 related articles every fortnight.
3. Channels Academy: VAR business, CRN Online and our internally contributes articles are a great source to have this content online.
4. Research: Our CIA and other regular research and survey that we conduct have a wealth of information that can be mined and put online. This information could have an option to be printed in our regular issue.
C) Community Services
1. Directory Services: We put our audited list of resellers online and give the process in which this is done. It not only encourages other resellers to avail this service free of cost, but also creates a buffer for our future awards projects and enrolls these guys into CRN.
2. e-Profile: Gives an opportunity to resellers to have a small web-page online.
3. Discussion Forums: This needs to be planned but essentially invites a selected few people to come online and discuss issues related to channels with a few industry leaders.
D) Subscriber services:
1. Newsletter: We currently have a database of around 6000 this needs to be extended to about 10000 or so to make it a very effective tool.
2. Subscription Services: these are a host of services extended to our regular readers and includes:
a. Renewals and address changes
b. Back issues
c. Email services
d. Reprints
e. Cancellations
f. Conferences and Seminars
g. Advertising services
The service was a huge success....
CRN online Strategy
CRN has been a brand primarily focusing on the Magazine and events medium. At this stage Online is one such medium, which is very important to gain mind share and at the same time educate the people on what is essential for their betterment in business.
Why is it important to have an online presence?
An online presence gives our readers the following advantages:
a. A ready source of information for any time reference from anywhere around the world
b. It is an effective medium to get better mind-share with our readers
c. It helps us use the online space to do more projects that is not limited by print space. In short gives more flexibility for brand extensions and editorial projects
d. The newsletter and subscriber services are very effective as a medium to influence readers to cross leverage of the print, events and online mediums.
e. The newsletters and other subscriber services give an advantage and an additional source of revenue.
CRN Online:
A) Current CRN Website:
The magazine content is uploaded on the website on the 1st and 15th of every month respectively for the respective issues.
B) Content related Services to be added:
This is one new service that would require a dedicated one-person team to source, file, upload and send newsletters on a daily basis. The sources of information for this would be:
1. Breaking News: The news in short or details, which will be of prime importance to partners but can only read it in our regular issues in detail but should get a brief idea before it comes out in print. On an average we get around 5 such articles in a fortnight.
2. Press Release and contributed articles: We get about 30 press releases every fortnight. It will be up to the online editor to decide and post at least 10 to 15 related articles every fortnight.
3. Channels Academy: VAR business, CRN Online and our internally contributes articles are a great source to have this content online.
4. Research: Our CIA and other regular research and survey that we conduct have a wealth of information that can be mined and put online. This information could have an option to be printed in our regular issue.
C) Community Services
1. Directory Services: We put our audited list of resellers online and give the process in which this is done. It not only encourages other resellers to avail this service free of cost, but also creates a buffer for our future awards projects and enrolls these guys into CRN.
2. e-Profile: Gives an opportunity to resellers to have a small web-page online.
3. Discussion Forums: This needs to be planned but essentially invites a selected few people to come online and discuss issues related to channels with a few industry leaders.
D) Subscriber services:
1. Newsletter: We currently have a database of around 6000 this needs to be extended to about 10000 or so to make it a very effective tool.
2. Subscription Services: these are a host of services extended to our regular readers and includes:
a. Renewals and address changes
b. Back issues
c. Email services
d. Reprints
e. Cancellations
f. Conferences and Seminars
g. Advertising services
The service was a huge success....
Solution Providers handbook
This was an interesting handbook specifically created for the CRN Channel Summit. The audience were high-end VARs and Solution providers who had issues which were different than regular channel partners and resellers
The book did well and got a lot of praise from the channel community, though it lacked advertising. The book was neatly divided into Business, Industry and Technology Trends and carried a lot of international perspective on channel business.
The book did well and got a lot of praise from the channel community, though it lacked advertising. The book was neatly divided into Business, Industry and Technology Trends and carried a lot of international perspective on channel business.
CRN Technology Year Book
This was an interesting project in 2002, when we had the opportunity to bring a lot of advertisers together at the same time give an unique proposition, that ensured each advertiser got exclusive audience to the entire channel community... thus came the Technology year book which later on carried on for 3 more issues...
the technology year book was a reference guide for channel partners that updated a person on the latest developments on a specific technology. each section was open for sponsorship from an advertiser with strips and full page advertisements.
Close to 20 top IT advertisers, each leaders in their old technology participated in the year book.
the technology year book was a reference guide for channel partners that updated a person on the latest developments on a specific technology. each section was open for sponsorship from an advertiser with strips and full page advertisements.
Close to 20 top IT advertisers, each leaders in their old technology participated in the year book.
Most Admired Company
The Most Admired Company was decided on the following parameters:
- Product quality &reliability
- Price competitiveness
- Profitability and margins
- Product availability
- Post-sales support
- Presales/ marketing support
- Channel certification and training program
Product Categories
The most admired company is be decided across 19 product Categories
Microprocessors
HDDs
ODDs
Multimedia Speakers
Input devices
Monitors
Printers (Inkjet)
Printers (Laser)
Motherboards
PCs
Low end Networking (Modems and NICs)
Notebooks
UPS
Scanners
PC/ UnixServers
High End Networking (Routers, Switches, RAS and Hubs)
Database Software (RDBM?s)
Antivirus
Cabling
Methodology
The research study for the Most Admired Company stretches across 15 metros and 35 towns covering a sample size of over 2000 channel partners in India.
The entire survey is a three-part study:
Part A: An initial survey with 75 channel partners (30 resellers and 20 solution providers) from all over India to identify the parameters and the weightages that most effect the channels.
Part B: Capture the most prominent vendors in the respective product and services categories. Here 300 channel partners (200 resellers and 100 solution providers) from all over India were involved to identify the top players in that segment.
Part C: The final survey that goes to 2000 respondents (1400 resellers + 600 SPs) who will be interviewed (by telephone) based on the detailed questionnaire.
CIA- CRN Industry Audit
CRN Industry Audit was a quarterly Audit of the IT industry where the Analysis and Data collection is done through the Channels, which is the supply side.
While various Research project are been conducted, in the industry, by independent Research Agencies like IDC and Gartner or associations such as MAIT. These researches are done either form the demand side where the end-users are polled or the supply side where the vendors are polled.
CIA is the only research project conducted by a neutral media - CRN to gauge the performance of the industry across various product segments such as Systems, Peripherals, Networking, Software and Services. More importantly it keeps a tab on the pulse of the industry by having a quarterly audit of the industry.
The data Collection is conducted by a Research Agency across 11 cities and involves 350 resellers. The panel includes traders, retailers, Solution providers and Distributors.
The Cities Covered were Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad/ Secunderabad, Chennai, Kanpur, Calcutta, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Cochin/Ernakulam.
While various Research project are been conducted, in the industry, by independent Research Agencies like IDC and Gartner or associations such as MAIT. These researches are done either form the demand side where the end-users are polled or the supply side where the vendors are polled.
CIA is the only research project conducted by a neutral media - CRN to gauge the performance of the industry across various product segments such as Systems, Peripherals, Networking, Software and Services. More importantly it keeps a tab on the pulse of the industry by having a quarterly audit of the industry.
The data Collection is conducted by a Research Agency across 11 cities and involves 350 resellers. The panel includes traders, retailers, Solution providers and Distributors.
The Cities Covered were Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad/ Secunderabad, Chennai, Kanpur, Calcutta, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Cochin/Ernakulam.
CRN Resource Center CD
The CRN Resource Center CD gave direction in terms of Business, technology, industry directions to the channels in addition to the most important part the recognistion part for the channels.
While the Business angle arrived through the Channels academy part, the technology through the test center, Industry info through CIA and the recognistion part through the Channel Awards showcase.
In addition we provided tools that will help the channel partners to do their business better.
The Following content will be a part of the CD.
1) Channels Academy – Content on specific topics related to Solution providers
2) Channel Awards – the glory and fame for the winners and Nominees. Can include a small video of the event. Also will include – CARD – the CRN audited Resellers Directory
3) CRN Industry Audit – the compilation with a look and feel of the website …
4) Vendor and Distributor Directory
5) CRN Test Center Compilation of the best products.
6) Drivers of most used products
7) Free S/W for inventory mgmt, sales Automation, Databases, Spreadsheets etc.
8) Sales, Marketing and Presentation Tools
While the Business angle arrived through the Channels academy part, the technology through the test center, Industry info through CIA and the recognistion part through the Channel Awards showcase.
In addition we provided tools that will help the channel partners to do their business better.
The Following content will be a part of the CD.
1) Channels Academy – Content on specific topics related to Solution providers
2) Channel Awards – the glory and fame for the winners and Nominees. Can include a small video of the event. Also will include – CARD – the CRN audited Resellers Directory
3) CRN Industry Audit – the compilation with a look and feel of the website …
4) Vendor and Distributor Directory
5) CRN Test Center Compilation of the best products.
6) Drivers of most used products
7) Free S/W for inventory mgmt, sales Automation, Databases, Spreadsheets etc.
8) Sales, Marketing and Presentation Tools
CRN Channel summit
In an arena as dynamic and fast-paced as high technology, it is sometimes necessary to re-evaluate where you stand and make some changes. The Year 2001 started on a low note where the IT industry at large faced a slowdown on revenue expectations. Indirect channels too had to face an equal brunt as a direct result of the vendor company cutbacks.
On the positive side, we had seen a few shakeouts with weaker players, consolidation of common interests with Vendors and a better planning of resources within companies. The changing scenario of the Indian IT industry is driving the Channels community to focus on being a solution provider from a traditional trader. Channel Partners are now looking at opportunities on jointly adopting strategies and processes to de-risk their businesses and offer a broader range of products and services to emerge as a formidable solution provider.
The age of the “SOLUTION PROVIDER” had dawned…
This was the time when a select a group of Solution Providers (from all over India), who we had recognized as potential players in tomorrow’s vibrant market, assembled to understand and discuss strategies, technologies that influenced their business decisions in the year 2002.
That's exactly what CRN did at Channel Summit 2002, tweaking it here and there to better serve and respond to a mercurial market. The CRN Channel Summit was the only platform of its kind where the most prominent of the thinking Reseller will meet and discuss along with the who’s who in the channel industry the strategies and trends for the future.
The CRN Channel Summit resonated with strong belief that a company’s survival largely depended upon how effectively it differentiates itself and how successful it is in creating meaningful strategic alliances to provide a value-for-money proposition to it’s clients.
The CRN Channel Summit was the only platform to decide the future of the channel industry in India. It put forth the latest trends happening in the Channels industry and a decisive step for a channel partner to make business decisions for the future.
The theme of this summit was “Age of the Solution Provider”. Essentially this was a three-part session, which informed the thinking reseller on the global trends, the trends in India and the technology trends that need to be adopted.
The Structure of the Event:
The success of the Event was essentially supported by three main activities:
1) Sessions on the concept of “Solution Provider”
2) The Solution Providers Pavilion
3) Package of print material to reinforce the concepts discussed and a long-term brand recall of the sponsor
On the positive side, we had seen a few shakeouts with weaker players, consolidation of common interests with Vendors and a better planning of resources within companies. The changing scenario of the Indian IT industry is driving the Channels community to focus on being a solution provider from a traditional trader. Channel Partners are now looking at opportunities on jointly adopting strategies and processes to de-risk their businesses and offer a broader range of products and services to emerge as a formidable solution provider.
The age of the “SOLUTION PROVIDER” had dawned…
This was the time when a select a group of Solution Providers (from all over India), who we had recognized as potential players in tomorrow’s vibrant market, assembled to understand and discuss strategies, technologies that influenced their business decisions in the year 2002.
That's exactly what CRN did at Channel Summit 2002, tweaking it here and there to better serve and respond to a mercurial market. The CRN Channel Summit was the only platform of its kind where the most prominent of the thinking Reseller will meet and discuss along with the who’s who in the channel industry the strategies and trends for the future.
The CRN Channel Summit resonated with strong belief that a company’s survival largely depended upon how effectively it differentiates itself and how successful it is in creating meaningful strategic alliances to provide a value-for-money proposition to it’s clients.
The CRN Channel Summit was the only platform to decide the future of the channel industry in India. It put forth the latest trends happening in the Channels industry and a decisive step for a channel partner to make business decisions for the future.
The theme of this summit was “Age of the Solution Provider”. Essentially this was a three-part session, which informed the thinking reseller on the global trends, the trends in India and the technology trends that need to be adopted.
The Structure of the Event:
The success of the Event was essentially supported by three main activities:
1) Sessions on the concept of “Solution Provider”
2) The Solution Providers Pavilion
3) Package of print material to reinforce the concepts discussed and a long-term brand recall of the sponsor
CRN Channel Awards
The CRN Channel Awards still runs successfully as an award for the last 9 years and was instituted in 2001 to recognize dynamism and innovation in the IT channels business and to set a definitive benchmark of performance for resellers, system integrators and entrepreneurs. This will be one-of-a-kind event, which was reinforce CRN’s commitment to foster the growth of the channel community by rewarding the resellers for their untiring efforts at the servicing the computing market. Seagate was the funding sponsor for the event.The CRN Chan
nel Awards resonated with strong belief that a company’s survival largely depends upon how effectively it differentiates itself and how successful it is in creating meaningful strategic alliances to provide a value-for-money proposition to it’s clients. It is an effort toward recognizing the fabulous work done by you over the years.Advisory Panel for CRN Channel Awards 2002 included....
Mr. Sanjeev Keskar - Country Manager, AMD
Mr. Princy Bhatnagar - Business development manager, Consumer Div., HP
Mr. P.G. Kamath - Vice President Marketing, Ingram Micro
Mr. Shirish Joshi - Channel Manager, CISCO India and SAARC
Mr. Hirak Mukherjee - Cross Industry Cluster, IBM India
Mr. Anil Jagasia - CEO, Savex Computers
Audit and Selection process:
For the CRN Channel Award audit and selection process we appointed TNS Mode (Agency for NRS – India’s largest media related study). The following phases are involved in the selection process:
Phase 1: Screening through Forms Filled by Resellers
Getting the reseller, VAR and Sub distributors to fill up the entry form and be screened with criteria like revenue, number of years in business, sustained growth, product mix, regional spread, vendor certification and customer base.
Phase 2: Distributor Evaluation
After the entries were filtered in the first phase, the distributors were called upon to evaluate the entries on criteria such as credit worthiness, service facilities, vendor certification, participative ness, business ethics, product spread and innovations.
Phase 3: Consumer Evaluation
After phase 2 the research agency went to the specified customers and evaluated the remaining entries on criteria’s like product knowledge, purchase guidance, selling approach, after sales service, product information, attitude and sustained buying.
Categories
Resellers – Metros (4) and Dev Markets (4) - Region wise – 8 Awards
VAR - Region wise – 4 Awards
Sub-Distributors - National – 1 Award
Best VAR – Enterprise Networking – 1 Award
Best VAR – Enterprise software – 1 Award
Best Corporate Reseller – 1 Award
Outstanding contribution to IT Channels - Editorial Choice Award – 1 Award
Sales Process Management
In 2000 I developed a Sales process management system using ACT II, by Symantec. This product was later sold to Saleslogix Corporation.
The the system essentially helper in the following way:
1. Aid the sales people to schedule their calls in a better way.
2. Plan, forecast and achieve their budgets in a better way.
3. Monitor these calls sales person wise
4. To monitor these calls product-wise
5. Have an updated history on any client.
i) How the system works?
There will be a main system at the HO, which is installed on a single machine. At every Branch the same package is installed, which has to be updated with the daily schedules of the sales person.
Every day the branch sends the update via email to the main unit at HO. The main system then updates its database, which can be used to generate relevant reports and track individual account, product or sales person.
ii) Tools required for implementation at branches
1) ACT CD
2) Floppy or CD with data structure
3) Floppy or CD with contact1 layout file
4) Floppy or CD with reports layout file
5) Database of each branch and the account assigned to each of the client.
iii) Process of installation in branches:
Day 1:
1) Install ACT software on the system
2) Check and configure modem and dialup properties where the email has to send through dialup
3) Set following settings
· Set word processor to Microsoft word
· Set email account.
· Replace Contact1 file in the layout subdirectory
· Copy reports in reports sub directory
· Set up all groups.
· Set up logins for each user.
4) Set database structure by importing copy of data structure from Data-structure floppy or CD.
5) Import existing Data from their Database or excel sheets
6) Assign each account to relevant product groups and Sales Person
Day 2:
1) Train the salesperson to schedule calls
2) Train people to set groups and new logins.
3) Train them to assign new accounts
4) Use letter and mail-merge facility
5) Solve problems.
iv) Checklist of todo’s while installing system at branches:
1) Check whether all fields have been imported on the database. Ensure Contact layout and Reports structures have been copied in their respective directory.
2) Check whether all existing database is imported to this system.
3) Update the Agency list with all agency names.
4) Time schedule on updating system and deleting unwanted records. (Monthly Backups in different file etc.)
5) Set up Email Account
6) Set up Scheduling activities
7) Ensure before going to branches the following things are setup
· Have a email account on their system
· Have their database ready for the required accounts
· Ensure that the branches have minimum hardware such as modem. Celeron 333 Mhz, Windows 95 with Office 97,
8) After system is setup do a test run of all data
v) IF’s and But’s:
a) If the branch doesnot have a excel sheet or DBF format of their database?
Ans: Tell the branch in advance about your plan of installation. Even then the database is not kept ready let the salespeople update their package on a daily basis and enter contact data on a daily basis and send it to HO on a regular basis.
b) But the sales people donot go out on calls on a regular basis and also make telephonic calls?
Ans: That is the reason why one has to write his comments or developments on a telephonic conversation in the notes column of the Notes and History section.
vi) Database maintenance
Data received from the branches will be taken as a combined backup on a weekly basis in the format ddmmmyyyy.zip.
The Regions database is programmed to purge in 90 days or on a quarterly basis.
Incase the older database has to be retrieved a parallel database is installed on the main system which can be used to retrieve these record and observe the changes.
Following reports can be generated from the Database, which a person might find useful.
1) Contact Report: This report gives you on a page the entire account details with its activities and Notes and History.
2) Contact Directory, PhoneList : Gives you an list of selected Contact info or Phone list, which is handy to carry around.
3) Notes/History Report: Gives an updated report on the Past, Present and Future status on the Contact.
4) History Summary Classic: This is an useful reports Which gives ata stretch the number of Meetings held with this customer and Who.
5) Activities and Time Spent Report: Gives an important insight into the Time spent with each of the client, by a sales person, and what were the outcome of such meets.
6) Contact Status Report: Gives an updated information on the status of each of the Contacts.
7) Individual Product Forecast Report: This report can be used by a person to find out their Yearly and Quarterly Forecast against their actual achievements.
The the system essentially helper in the following way:
1. Aid the sales people to schedule their calls in a better way.
2. Plan, forecast and achieve their budgets in a better way.
3. Monitor these calls sales person wise
4. To monitor these calls product-wise
5. Have an updated history on any client.
i) How the system works?
There will be a main system at the HO, which is installed on a single machine. At every Branch the same package is installed, which has to be updated with the daily schedules of the sales person.
Every day the branch sends the update via email to the main unit at HO. The main system then updates its database, which can be used to generate relevant reports and track individual account, product or sales person.
ii) Tools required for implementation at branches
1) ACT CD
2) Floppy or CD with data structure
3) Floppy or CD with contact1 layout file
4) Floppy or CD with reports layout file
5) Database of each branch and the account assigned to each of the client.
iii) Process of installation in branches:
Day 1:
1) Install ACT software on the system
2) Check and configure modem and dialup properties where the email has to send through dialup
3) Set following settings
· Set word processor to Microsoft word
· Set email account.
· Replace Contact1 file in the layout subdirectory
· Copy reports in reports sub directory
· Set up all groups.
· Set up logins for each user.
4) Set database structure by importing copy of data structure from Data-structure floppy or CD.
5) Import existing Data from their Database or excel sheets
6) Assign each account to relevant product groups and Sales Person
Day 2:
1) Train the salesperson to schedule calls
2) Train people to set groups and new logins.
3) Train them to assign new accounts
4) Use letter and mail-merge facility
5) Solve problems.
iv) Checklist of todo’s while installing system at branches:
1) Check whether all fields have been imported on the database. Ensure Contact layout and Reports structures have been copied in their respective directory.
2) Check whether all existing database is imported to this system.
3) Update the Agency list with all agency names.
4) Time schedule on updating system and deleting unwanted records. (Monthly Backups in different file etc.)
5) Set up Email Account
6) Set up Scheduling activities
7) Ensure before going to branches the following things are setup
· Have a email account on their system
· Have their database ready for the required accounts
· Ensure that the branches have minimum hardware such as modem. Celeron 333 Mhz, Windows 95 with Office 97,
8) After system is setup do a test run of all data
v) IF’s and But’s:
a) If the branch doesnot have a excel sheet or DBF format of their database?
Ans: Tell the branch in advance about your plan of installation. Even then the database is not kept ready let the salespeople update their package on a daily basis and enter contact data on a daily basis and send it to HO on a regular basis.
b) But the sales people donot go out on calls on a regular basis and also make telephonic calls?
Ans: That is the reason why one has to write his comments or developments on a telephonic conversation in the notes column of the Notes and History section.
vi) Database maintenance
Data received from the branches will be taken as a combined backup on a weekly basis in the format ddmmmyyyy.zip.
The Regions database is programmed to purge in 90 days or on a quarterly basis.
Incase the older database has to be retrieved a parallel database is installed on the main system which can be used to retrieve these record and observe the changes.
Following reports can be generated from the Database, which a person might find useful.
1) Contact Report: This report gives you on a page the entire account details with its activities and Notes and History.
2) Contact Directory, PhoneList : Gives you an list of selected Contact info or Phone list, which is handy to carry around.
3) Notes/History Report: Gives an updated report on the Past, Present and Future status on the Contact.
4) History Summary Classic: This is an useful reports Which gives ata stretch the number of Meetings held with this customer and Who.
5) Activities and Time Spent Report: Gives an important insight into the Time spent with each of the client, by a sales person, and what were the outcome of such meets.
6) Contact Status Report: Gives an updated information on the status of each of the Contacts.
7) Individual Product Forecast Report: This report can be used by a person to find out their Yearly and Quarterly Forecast against their actual achievements.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Seagate Leadership Series
Seagate was a leader in HDDs right through the 2000 to 2002 period with over 80% market share... any amount of additional ATL did not give them additional mind share or market share. with impending competition, the threat loomed larger on loosing market share...CRN proposed this innovation as an opportunity for the company to maintain their leadership position educating the channels on the management aspects of a channel business...
The series ran from a year and at the end we ran a research on the effectiveness which threw the following results:1) Post Awareness and exposure level of the series up from -- 84% (first level) to 88% (second Level)
2) Readership 59%
3) SLS is perceived as a tool for betterment of channel business and gain competitive advantage
4) 60% Resellers perceive this a gives better value than ads.
5) 45% would like to read similar articles in future.
Samsung Newletters
Samsung in the year 2000 was one of the dominant players in IT products in CRT Monitors and was looking at entering HDD market and the laser printer and was on the verge of launching LCDs... the challenge was to establish a mechanism to maintain market shares and find acceptance for their new products. While consumer push was active through ATL and ground activations, one of the key activities was to create a push through the distribution channels in the form of a regular communication tool that informed them about schemes, new products, existing product benefits over competition and influencing consumer psyche..
Samsung continued this activity for 2 years.. a testimony to be satisfied with the results and prove the success of the activity
CAMS and ICAMS
One of my first independent projects in Jasubhai and later on with Infomedia was the CAMS and ICAMS project... CAMS stood for Competition Advertisement Monitoring System.
The challenge in those days was to get some accurate details on advertising trends over a period of time and to capture that you needed a system to capture and measure various dimensions defined as Magazines, Publications, Segments, Industry, Clients and Agencies. The challenge was typical for magazines in the special interest space as well as B2B space which was not monitored by any agency, then...
ICAM is a scalable system that is designed in ASP for its front end and uses a My SQL for its back-end Database requirement.
The purpose of the system is to monitor advertisements from across magazines and help in the following:
1) Determine market shares and competitor performance
2) Help predict future growth and trends
3) Understand advertiser and agency trends in releasing ads
4) Understand regional performances
The system captured data in an RDBMS structure across Publication, Publication group, Industry type, Magazine type, Magazine, Agency, Region, company, Ad positioning, Ad sizes, Ad types, Ad sections and Tariff rates. based on the above databases, the monthly ad patterns were captured across various magazine segments.
The Report Generation Module will look at the following reports to be generated:
1. Clientwise Reports: on Clients advertising pattern across magazine
2. Agencywise Reports: On agency advertisement release pattern across magazines
3. Segmentwise reports: On Clients advertising pattern across magazine segments
4. Industrywise reports: the kind of industries that are advertising in specific magazine segments
5. Publication Groupwise reports: On Clients advertising pattern across Publications
6. Issuewise reports: performance of specific magazine across various issues
7. Client Advertising Pattern Reports: The kind of ads that clients tend to release
8. Magazine Ratios: Key magazine ratios that indicate the health of the magazine
The above reports can be generated with the following options:
1. Datewise
2. Magazine:
3. Regions:
4. Segment:
5. Industry Type:
6. Publication Group:
7. Section:
Over 100 magazine titles and 200 issues were captured every month to give desired results on market shares...
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Marketing 2.0 - Event + Newsletter
In my first few months at Jasubhai Digital Media in early 2000, one of my first interesting assignments was to create awareness for the company as a whole as a brand that offers solution in the digital space - in print, online and multimedia...
The team was by Sandip Maiti and we worked on the concept of a seminar cum newsletter series that targeted all Advertising agencies and advertisers who should know the true potential of the new medium... Events was majorly driven by Suneel Yadav and I drove part of the event and the newsletter....
A Forum was to analyze and debate the marketing challenges and opportunities created by technology trends. A day long immersion session to soak in the marketing mantras of the technology age. A coming together of business professionals and marketing gurus - thought leaders in Technology Marketing to share and exchange ideas. A meeting of minds.
Marketing 2.0 s a series of seminars, that dwelled on the different facets of Technology Marketing. Because Technology has heralded change. A different kind of revolution is happening in the digital marketplace. This is a new age with a new breed of customers driven by hot technologies, there's a new approach to innovative technology brands, new ways of assimilating info, new ways of finding a customer and new ways of communicating.
Marketing 2.0 was where one could imbibe the latest & greatest of marketing information technology products and services to the digital generation. Where one will connect with the technology marketing community and absorb some of the biggest success stories in this field.
We got on big names like the late Shunu Sen, Kiron Kasbekar, Arvind Sampat, Ajay Chandwani, V Ramani, V Ramakrishna, Madhusudan Reddy, Santosh Desai, Karthi Marshan, Navroze Dhondy and Sohail Seth who put forth ideas on the new medium that would form challenges...
The team was by Sandip Maiti and we worked on the concept of a seminar cum newsletter series that targeted all Advertising agencies and advertisers who should know the true potential of the new medium... Events was majorly driven by Suneel Yadav and I drove part of the event and the newsletter....
A Forum was to analyze and debate the marketing challenges and opportunities created by technology trends. A day long immersion session to soak in the marketing mantras of the technology age. A coming together of business professionals and marketing gurus - thought leaders in Technology Marketing to share and exchange ideas. A meeting of minds.
Marketing 2.0 s a series of seminars, that dwelled on the different facets of Technology Marketing. Because Technology has heralded change. A different kind of revolution is happening in the digital marketplace. This is a new age with a new breed of customers driven by hot technologies, there's a new approach to innovative technology brands, new ways of assimilating info, new ways of finding a customer and new ways of communicating.
Marketing 2.0 was where one could imbibe the latest & greatest of marketing information technology products and services to the digital generation. Where one will connect with the technology marketing community and absorb some of the biggest success stories in this field.
We got on big names like the late Shunu Sen, Kiron Kasbekar, Arvind Sampat, Ajay Chandwani, V Ramani, V Ramakrishna, Madhusudan Reddy, Santosh Desai, Karthi Marshan, Navroze Dhondy and Sohail Seth who put forth ideas on the new medium that would form challenges...
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Why Me?
I started of working in 1993 as an engineer for about 3 years when I realized, i wasn't cut out to be one.... I could have just followed the standard engineers dream to do what everybody does best... software coding and be content with it...
well, that did not work for me....
I pursued my MBA and CFA from ICFAI business school and then worked with Elbee services for 2 years. I then worked in the media for about 9 years - 6 years with Jasubhai Digital Media and 3 years with Infomedia18 before joining reliance BIG TV... had also worked for a brief period of 1 year on a mobility project with Coruscant Tec....
I present my work and thoughts in this series of blogs....
Most have been conceptualized and executed and some I have been a part of the team and has given me tremendous exposure... while I would not be able to thank each one of them... have tried to be as fair as possible....
well, that did not work for me....
I pursued my MBA and CFA from ICFAI business school and then worked with Elbee services for 2 years. I then worked in the media for about 9 years - 6 years with Jasubhai Digital Media and 3 years with Infomedia18 before joining reliance BIG TV... had also worked for a brief period of 1 year on a mobility project with Coruscant Tec....
I present my work and thoughts in this series of blogs....
Most have been conceptualized and executed and some I have been a part of the team and has given me tremendous exposure... while I would not be able to thank each one of them... have tried to be as fair as possible....
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