Hi !! My Surname is “Octa Core 2.5 GHz with 32 Gb internal memory”

Once upon a time, the mode of communication used to be only face to face interactions and body expressions. As people across the globe started exploring new civilizations, new lands, new cities, new rivers, new mountains, sand and beaches, it brought along with it, the need for more effective means of communication. This created the need for ‘long distance communication’, and solution was found in the form of pigeon messengers. Times moved and by 19th century we heard the first tring tring with ‘bells’ ringing his first phone. The invention lasted for a long time, but as the curiosity kills the cat so is the human mind. The researches kept on happening, people kept on improving the mediums of communication, kept on improvising the phones developed by Graham bell. Finally, Martin Cooper came up with first mobile phone in 1980s. Nobody wud’ve ever thought in those days that this wonderful invention meant to bridge the distances and bring people closer will become source of breakdown of humanity globally. Something which will lead to paradigm shift in the believe system, thought process and social structure of mankind. There were days when people were identified by their character, personality, knowledge, achievements, wisdom, intelligence, humor etc. today the differentiation between personalities is greatly supported by brands person is wearing in various forms, be it clothing or accessories or vehicle one drives and now the most integral part “the Mobile Phone”. Mobile phone has become an extension of our personalities. People nowadays are not identified by the wisdom they carry, but by how many megapixels they have!, how many GBs of internal memory they carry or how many Mh of battery they have! Those who feel its Russian and greek, these are some of the features of our latest mobile phones, who are called ‘smartphones’ because they are getting smarter than their creators! We cry, we crib, we smile, we laugh, we explore, we get angry, we get excited, we get delighted, we get pissed off, we buy, we sell, we order, we search, we enjoy, we love, we marry - not with our beloved family or friends but with our ‘smartphone’ enabled with superfast internet, on 5’’ guerilla glass super amoled screen! Smartphone has become an integral part of our decision making, in fact for some, its not the wisdom of their parents, friends or elderly which matters, what matters is inputs given by Prof.Google! “Google mein agaya hai to theek hee hoga” ! A decade back for school projects and assignments, kids used to search books in libraries, newspapers, visit old books shops, used to go through 4-5 books or magazines to get the right content. Today it takes minutes to prepare any assignment without literally racking much brain. Our brain is draining off, we do not want to think, we have stopped believing in the phrase “every good thing takes time”, we are more and more adopting “instant food” phenomenon. We want everything to come to us without wasting any time and without making any efforts. We believe more in telling the whole world that “I got up at 6 in the morning to jog” or send picture of first time sitting on a rickshaw or sharing a message with 10 friends, because it says if I don’t share, I will lose my job today! People have started feeling more peer pressure because they are carrying 4 mega pixel wala phone, while their best friend is carrying 8 megapixel wala, and voila, in market there is one with 20 megapixel! Megapixel has become latest status symbol and Mh the new differentiator. Adopting technologies has no harm. Like we say “Change is always for betterment”. But excess of everything is bad, and this phrase is getting more and truer day by day. We should surely use ‘technology’ as means of convenience but not try to replace our brain with it. We are leaving our grey cells to die their own death. We do not want to spend time on thinking, because “we don’t want to waste time”. Thinking leads to energizing the brain cells, it stimulates nerves, it ignites our mind with fresh thoughts, it helps to think about same topic with different dimensions. But we are ready to leave all this behind for the sake of saving time “google hai na”! We really need to come out of this “instant” syndrome. We really need to treat technology as enabler instead of decision maker. We should not let our emotions getting replaced with set of smileys in our life. We should not let “miss you mom” sms be the answer to mother’s missed call, because you were busy on completing final level of asphalt 8! Let us stay as humans, because that’s how God has created us. Let’s our identity not get measured in megapixel and our wisdom “powered by octacore processor”. Be Human, Stay Humane. -Shad Zaman

Shave it if you can’t comb it!

After spending over a decade of my professional life in brand management, and coming across 100s and 1000s of people from various walks of life or with thoughts from other planets, one thing I have surely concluded, every individual who  reaches the age of 60, ends up with thinning hair and reaching a limit where the person ends up saving all his money which he ones upon a time used to spend on hair care products.

Even though majority of individuals go through this phenomenon, but the degree of baldness varies from individual to individual.

With up gradation of technologies and newer innovations happening in the field of dermatology, more and more of these TOO-BE-BALD soon types are making beeline outside these mushrooming shops where they put new hair back on their shining head piece!

From nylon threads, to animal hairs to original human being hair, wigs have come along way and so have the newer technologies like hair weaving. Which makes the new hair as natural as they can be?

Now the question which comes to my mind is, what is the right time when a person should decide whether he needs a wig or weaving or clean shave.

If an individual who is extremely successful, renowned, famous, celebrity kinda!. He may just stay normal and not even think about adopting such dramatics.

At the same time, few not-so-confident ones, who believe that this world is made only to give them sufferings, and having low hair density is a curse on them from God. They may actually feel  low on confidence and at times out-of-place when the peer group starts chit chatting about the new shampoo brand in the market!.

Be it a celebrity or an ordinary man, my gut feeling is that both tend to get into this dilemma, as to when is the right time to revive their hair style.

And this is the cause of my disturbed state of mind, where I foresee a connect between the above mentioned phenomenon and story arising in the life cycle of many brands. As brand custodians, many times we do come across a situation when nothing seems to be working for the brand. The same set of best practices, media plans, consumer engagement initiatives, that were writing success stories in the past, prove no more than just some scribbled words on excel sheets, slides or word doc.

That’s the time when we get into dilemma thinking, when is the right time to revive the brand or bury it to death. In other words what’s the good time to get hair weaving or just shave it clean?!!

We have seen biggest of the brands going downhill, simply because they were not refreshed in the correct spirit at the correct time.  Lehman brothers, Schlitz Beer, Kodak are few American iconic brands who couldn’t make out when to refresh their brand, and ultimately let them to near death or about to die.

Hence for any brand, it is extremely important to keep it fresh, keep it lively, keep it growing. We must keep in mind that a carefully strategized positioning for the brand always means that it is targeted towards a specific age group. And AGE is the most dynamic phenomenon of life, which keeps changing every moment.

While there could be a large TG to whom one has targeted with a brand, there would be many who would be moving out of this age band in future. At the same time, there will be many who will be entering this group too!

Thus we must keep a dialogue of the brand alive with the consumers. The brand may talk various things to the consumer which can keep it alive and young. New flavours, new packaging, new distribution channel, new product benefits, new pricing, new usage of the product. The opportunities are umpteen, the scope of communication is un ending.  One just needs to keep an eye on pulse of the consumer, especially the ones who are entering the category to understand their lifestyle, needs, wants and desires and accordingly compare your own brand, whether it fits into the life of the consumer of or not.

And if one realizes that the brand has completed its life, it cannot be revived and its better to shave it off…THEN DO IT!

A Dream - One of my oldest creations

A Dream - shad Zaman

I have a dream

a dream not for name

a dream, not for fame

But a dream to be a loner.

a loner who wants to get away from the crowd.

Not the crowd of living beings

But the crowd of cruelty, hatred, sadism, selfishness.

I want to feel, to express, to say

I don’t want to feel for others

but I want to feel with others

I want to be a sentient.

Why this earth is getting phlegmatic

Why people are getting eccentric

Is it that difficult to be normal?

If a man can live with animal for million years

Why can’t he live with more of himself.

Why people have become caustic

Why so much of vandalism

Could you tell me?

I have a dream

a dream not for name

a dream not for fame

But a dream to see this earth be lucid

But a dream to see people with mirth.

People who can feel, who can trust, who can love

Can you find them?

I have a dream

a dream not for name

a dream not for fame

But a dream to share peace, to share happiness

To be able to wipe off tears of others

To be able to bring smile on their faces.

I am not a savant, neither a priest

Nor I want to be

I want to be a loner;

A loner who can feel, can express, who can say.

A Coin has two sides and so does Technology

A Coin has two sides and so does Technology.

– Shad Zaman

While we are talking about how technology, latest gadgets, gizmos, smart phones, tablets, social networking, chatting, blogging etc is creating a borderless world, at the same time sectarian, religious, ethical, economic, nationalistic, secularist divides are increasing day by day across the globe.

Time and again, question comes to mind, has this advancement in technologies of communication actually led to development of society or erosion of our culture, feelings, sentiments, relations and attitude with which we look upon others?

When we look at the past, 50 or 100 years back, there were lesser riots, sectarian divides and ethical wars. But the question is “were the numbers of such incidents were still same, and it’s just that source of information was less so we didn’t get to know about them or actually such incidents were less?”

We now have so many types of disease, epidemics, mental disorders and medical science has discovered umpteen number of reasons also for the same. Again the same question. Were the numbers of such incidents were still same, and it’s just that source of information was less so we didn’t get to know about them or actually such incidents were less?

Reasons can be both, incident of such nature was less and also the awareness levels were low.

Like everyone says that youth is the backbone for growth and prosperity of any country. And they need to be nurtured and groomed carefully. However we see that most of today’s youth is getting extremely impatient, arrogant and egoistic. Being patient is considered a passé. Its not an IN-THING.

The increased incidence of violence amongst the youth, victimization of females be it in office, college on the street at hostel, is on the rise. The feeling of vengeance is continuously increasing.

Why is all this happening? These habits were still prominent in the west. It was supposed to be part of their culture and upbringing. However our own social structure did not had such impatience and egoistic fervor.  We never taught our kids to be arrogant; yes we taught them to be disciplined. We often hear girls n boys committing suicide because they didn’t get good marks in their examinations or because their parents did not accepted their love or they are unable to get job or start any profession. Why such extremes taken by these kids? Why the sense of failure dominates the determination to fight back?

It’s difficult to understand this kind of behavior some extent.

While its good that technology is creating a borderless world and bringing countries and people closer, but it is also leading to creating bigger and wider emotional gaps.

We need to be extremely careful while grooming our next generation. We need to clearly explain and make the kids understand technology. What are its benefits, how and how much and when it should be used and equally important is to educate them about its pitfalls.

The kids are becoming more demanding, seeking more answers to every question hence we need to be clear in our own direction and mannerism in which we explain such things.

We need to make sure technology helps our generations to grow better, more learned more disciplined rather than becoming a reason for de-evolution of the society.

I am a proud marathi...But an Indian First!

Ones again Shiv Sena showed its extremely myopic, restricted and selfish philosophy. Even the most insane person on earthshall never be able to express this senseless, ludicrous and disgusting remark of calling a man, who dedicated more thanhalf his life for the love of his country and made his heart to dedicate his every beat to the cause of his nation.

It further proves that Shiv Sena Supremo has really gone old and probably he himself doesnt know, what language is he using and for whom.

Probably Shiv Sena is loosing its own focus and is getting doubtful about its own existence in the wake ofMNS's one point agenda of dividing the country by hook or crook.

All said and done, MNS is surely creating a dent and breaking the vote bank of Shiv Sena, and Sena is almost getting clueless and directionless under the leadership of a directionless, old tiger..

Stay in the Game

Almost after a fortnight I was back on the tennis court. All my joints were cracking and muscles had just lost their elasticity. But no issues, I had been familiar with this body condition of my mine so many times earlier, that it really didn’t mattered.
I reached my tennis club pretty late in the morning so couldn’t meet my usual doubles partners for a good 3 setter game like we usually play.
But caught hold of one kid who has played in few under-16 state level tournaments and is on circuit for past many years. She is one of the better kids at the club and hence I thought its going to be a good practice to hit few shots with her.
After an hour of practice, I felt my body moving more rhythmically and shots were falling where I wanted to.
Finally we thought of playing a 2-3 setter match, depending upon how much our body can support, since the weather was quite hot, but thankfully not very humid.
The girl’s temperament totally changed when I named our practice session as a MATCH.
She started hitting really hard, playing serve and volley game and made me run all over the court. I was hitting too many unforced errors, every time I tried to hit a winner shot on her service or even during the volleys. I started trying harder but no luck. I was down 2-0 in the first set, as she won her serve and broke mine too. I was feeling a bit dejected, but thought I don’t have anything to loose so lets try to just hit the volleys, make her play more shots and try to hang around as much as I can.
I was not trying to put too much power in my shots, since i planned to play longer rallies, by placing the ball all over the ocourt with low height volleys, long lob shots, drop shots, slicing on the backhand. Somehow the tactic paid off. She started loosing her patience since I was not hitting very hard but just returning her shots most of the time. Finally I won my first point of the day.
In the next game. She started hitting harder than before, which lead to committing more and more errors. Finally I won the first set 6-4. Trust me; it was a quite brave attempt on my part!. She had gone pretty exhausted and so was I, the weather had taken a little toll on our bodies, but we decided to play a decider set.. We started our next set and I applied the same tactics. By the time i was leading the set 3-0, she had really lost her patience, shouting at her own self, every time she missed a shot, and once even threw her racket on the ground when she hit 2 double faults back to back. I finally ended the set 6-3 and won the match 6-4, 6-3.
Well it was not such a big occasion to write it down on my blog, to win a match against a kid, half of my age :-). But keeping in mind that, the kid is playing tennis for past 4 years, have been participating in state-level tournaments quite often and aspiring to play in grand slams oneday and I have been playing for less than 4 months only as a part of my fitness routine, I think it was quite a commendable job.
then why did I shared this small, stupid and funny incident? Not to get any applauds or appreciation from you guys, but the thought which struck to me later sitting at home while recalling the morning the game. The corporate life, business, competition, and strategy for survival!

Let me represent myself as one of those old organisations, which have been running successfully for many years in the market. With various ups n downs, booking profits as well as losses at times, but still successfully managing to run and fight against all odds and market conditions.
Suddenly a new competitor arrives (the kid), with lot of fire power, enthusiasm, new techniques, strategies, technologies, and starts giving me big competition in the market place. My established roots get a little shaken. The company is not performing as it should. So we also try to adopt the same strategies, work for longer hours, stretch my manpower for higher targets, and pushing every thing and everyone in the organisation to reach the next level.
Then the management realises, that, by putting more investment, pushing employees to work extra hours, giving stiffer targets to sales team, there strategies have brought just a marked difference compared to what they were doing earlier. The cost-benefit analysis shows that the extra efforts put in have not yielded any desired results. In this scenario the management can adopt a new technique, which i experienced today in my game. To simply follow the competition, give to the market what the competition is also giving, adopt similar kind of communication strategies and overall, just stay at a nagging distance to the competition that it can see you from the corner. In a marketing jargon, I can say behave like a ‘follower brand’ (me the old brand) to a challenger brand (kid the new competition).
In this kind of scenario, there is a high possibility that the challenger brand will explore harder, for new strategies, new products, may be new distribution and logistics mechanism, reduce costs etc, to displace me; but my management has decided to simply hang around and put in enough efforts to maintain the current market position.

Generally the tendency of these extremely passionate, ambitious and determined guys, who have been winning all the time, is there vulnerability to loss. They get extremely scared of loosing the battle, they always want to stay number one. And when they see a competition consistently follow them for quite sometime, they are likely to commit mistakes, as they keep trying harder and harder and likely to go overboard at times, in gaining that EXTRA mileage over the competition.

So that’s how, a small tennis game with a kid, taught me a business strategy which might be helpful to evade competition and survive in the market.

“Sometimes it’s advisable to just try and stay in the game and let the competition try harder. In doing so, you are making the competition more vulnerable to commit mistakes, and eventually you can be winner!”

Is Being simple, too complicated?

This question keeps floating in my mind quite often. Is being simple, too complicated, or presenting a complex and complicated personality considered to be an IN-THING these days.

In today’s society when networking, communication, socialising have become the biggest tools and parameters which define the success rate of an individual, simplicity or an ordinary behaviour is loosing its sheen.
Often people misunderstand a person, who doesn’t speak a slanged language with Queen’s English and cosmetic expressions, as a person who is socially inactive or who is too plain Jane and ‘not there type’.
But to some extent, the society can’t be blamed for making such an opinion about someone. The world is moving too fast, and one need to be little manipulative, little street smart and have to have a sharp presence of mind to stay tall; be at the work place or at a social gathering.
However one can remain street smart as well as simple at the sametime, but they need to be very clear how do they want the society to look up to them. In marketing jargon, I can say, what kind of positioning the person wants to create for himself in the society and how he want others to perceive him.
There is a place for pseudo-intellectuals as well as plan Jane Gandhians in this society; it’s just a matter of how someone wants to be remembered as.