Steve Job 2.0

Too soon? Oh well, shutup.

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Exploding Houses

“At first glance, these houses looks like they could have been the victim of a dramatic gas explosion. But the beat-up homes in Houston, Texas, are in fact an elaborate traffic-stopping work of art using the homes’ own wood siding. Artists Dan Havel and Dean Ruck smashed the interior walls of the homes, before nailing the wooden planking at strange angles to complete their project. Featuring

How to Make a Ramen Noodle Sandwich

How to make a Ramen noodle sandwich. Yes, I just typed those words, strange. Anywho, if you don't have much self respect, or bread, then try making a Ramen noodle sandwich: Instructions here.
Wait! Thought! What about a Ramen noodle BLT sandwich? Mmmm.

Source

3 Necklace and Earring Sets Giveaway!

Shy of Perfect was nice enough to offer Now That's Nifty readers a chance to win one of three necklace and earing sets of your choice. And for all those who aren't lucky enough to win, don't cry, promo code NOWTHATSNIFTY will give you 30% off your purchase from Shy of Perfect!

About Shy of Perfect:

Modern designs that are meant to be affordable, fun, and easy to wear.

If you wonder why I keep

Brand Update : Scooty becomes Sinful

Last year saw a dramatic change in the brand personality of Scooty- the Scooterette brand from TVS.The brand is attempting a makeover to woo the young Indian consumer. In that process, the brand changed its entire persona to cater to the new target segment.

The change in the brand personality of Scooty also reflects its change in its targeting strategy. The brand is now targeting a much younger consumers. Earlier, Scooty was targeting lady consumers who were looking for a personal transport to office/college. The brand's initial communication was catered to young women who just started going to office. The message of a successful independent women was the positioning platform adopted by the brand.The brand also tried to ladder up using " Empowerment " as the core value. 

Last year, the brand went in for a complete makeover. The brand has become much younger, colorful and naughty. This was a drastic change from the earlier positioning based on style and power. The brand also rationalized its portfolio  to three sub-brands - Scooty Pep, Scooty Teenz and Scooty Streak. 

For Scooty Pep, the brand has made it more youthful and colorful by changing the advertising strategy. The brand has adopted the new tagline " Go Babelicious ". The brand campaign features the new age girl with the so-called bold attitude. The brand message is " Do your own thing, girls ". To support the new positioning, the brand has launched more colorful variants. 

Watch the campaign here :Go Babelicious

The brand is now running another brand campaign for its Streak  sub-brand. Scooty Streak was launched in 2009. The brand was aimed at young girls with more styling and colors. The brand also introduced additional features for the Streak . Scooty Streak used the ( then ) tennis sensation Sania Mirza as the brand ambassador.The styling was the key differentiator for Streak at that time. 

This year, Scooty became more bold for its sub-brand. The brand is currently running a campaign for Streak called " Sinfully Black ".

Watch the ad here : Sinfully Black 

The new campaign is a big shift in the overall brand personality of Scooty. From a positioning based more on rational aspects like features and style, the brand moved to a kind of hedonistic form of advertising. In the Sinfully Black campaign, the brand is featuring seven sins -

Lust

Greed

Pride

Envy

Gluttony

Sloth

Rage.

The brand is running ads for each of these sins. The brand is clearly targeting the new urban youth and is following the clichéd  image of the young urban Indian consumer. Most of the brands are now using a kind of a rebel, indulgent, sexy, naughty, independent image to portray the Indian youngsters. Scooty Streak is no different. So from a " empowered, rational " personality, the brand has moved to a naughty, indulgent, personality. For the campaign , the brand uses foreign models which again is to position itself as an aspirational brand. 

What I liked about the campaign is the use of seven sins in the campaign which makes the ads different and interesting. The use of positioning statement " Sinfully Black " is also different and I think the brand has done away with other color choices for Streak and is now focusing on black Streak with colorful graphics. This also is something that is not seen in campaigns targeting ladies. Earlier Bajaj Pulsar had launched a campaign for Black Pulsar 180cc. 

Another reason for the Sinfully Black campaign is to make the sub-brand relevant and different from Scooty Pep. Since Scooty Pep has also changed its targeting towards younger consumers, the Streak sub-brand will be occupying the same mental space with Scooty Pep. So by relaunching Scooty Streak with focus on black color + new personality, the company has effectively differentiated the two sub-brands from each other ( atleast in image).

The new campaigns of Scooty marks another interesting change for this brand. Scooty has been a market leader in this category for long . The brand is careful in making itself interesting to the TG. This time, the brand smartly uses promotional strategies to keep the interest alive in the market. 

Related Brand

TVS Scooty

NEW CHRISTMAS SOAPS - PREVIEW

Yes, busy, busy, busy little Soapchick has been making like crazy.  I have some lovely new ideas for Christmas soaps, some already made and some in the making.  I want to share them with you today, some are on the curing racks already and will be ready for order really soon.

Re-vamped Christmas Spice Cake for 2011
Christmas Spice Cake is an annual favourite, each year I redesign it and try to make it better and better.  This year I have gone for the holly and berry look on top, swirls of lovely creamy soap laden with cinamon, nutmeg, cranberry and clove scents.  It is a real winner and I think that this years version is the best ever!

Christmas Berry cupcakes
Now these really are lovely, the base is scented with a mixture of wild berry and tangy cranberry, very Christmassy, the tops are decorated with mixed berries, and lovely indigo glitter. Another one that I don't have a name for yet, so if you can help I would love to know what you think?

Gingerbread Cupcakes
I recently fell in love with a new, tiny gingerbread man cutter and I had to get it.  So..... naturally this means a new cupcake is born!  this one has a fantastic ginger cake fragrance, so spicy and lovely.  Some of the cupcakes have a candy cane on the opposite side, some a gold star, everything made out of soap of course! I need a name for this little beauty, can you help?

"Follow The Star" Limited edition
I am so excited by this soap, the idea came while I was sleeping - I know it sounds crazy but I dreamed this soap!

I wanted to make a real scene in soap, my interpretation of the Christmas message.  The fragrance started me off, frankincense and Myrrh, a beautiful, warm, rich scent, and what else did the wise men bring?  Gold of course, I wanted a star and glitter too.  This is the result, a desert night (it will get darker, the sky I mean, as the fragrance ages to a much darker colour), the sand dunes peeling off into the distance, a wild, glittery, magical sky and a huge, pure white star to follow.  The soap looks equally good straight out of the mold or cut up into bars (as above) I think, I really wanted the scene to show up well and tell the story of Christmas in soap, I think it does and I hope you do too, please let me know.

Before the final cut, straight out of the mold as an extra large bar and before the gold 'chunks' were coloured up.

Christmas Tree Cupcakes
and finally, another re-vamp of a favorite from last year.  I have make these cupcakes again as I have already had lots of orders in, but, as always, I have made them slightly different this year.  I hope you wont be disappointed.  The scent is the same lovely mixture of Christmas spices as the cake at the top of this blog, cinnamon, clove, cranberry and nutmeg.

Remember you will always see and hear about my new soaps first on this blog and by following my facebook page, Please do let me know what you think, I love comments!!!

Tata Grande : Size Matters

Brand : Grande
Company : Tata Motors

Brand Analysis Count : 501

Another Indian brand has moved from a sub-brand status to an Independent brand. Tata Motors has upgraded the Grande brand to an independent brand status delinking it from Sumo Brand. Tata Sumo Grande was launched in 2008. the brand was expected to raise the sagging fortune of Tata Sumo.

Tata Sumo which was launched in 1994 was a poster boy in the Multi-Utility Vehicle segment. The brand became hugely popular in the Taxi segment .

 But the launch of Innova, Scorpio, Xylo etc soon began to eat into the share of Sumo. Soon the brand began to be perceived as dated. Coupled with the bad PR and image about Tata Cars, the consumer interest began to shift to new MUVs and SUVs.

Tata Sumo Grande was launched as an attempt to shift the consumer's interest back to Tata MUVs. The Grande design was very different from Sumo and the positioning of Sumo grande was also different from the Sumo's positioning. Tata Sumo Grande had the tagline " More than Meets the Eye " focusing on the personality of the brand owner. 

In 2011, Tata Motors decided to make Grande brand independent. The new brand was soft launched and the brand is currently running the launch campaign in various channels.

Watch the campaign here : Tata Grande

The new brand has the tagline " Size Matters ". From the tagline itself it can be assumed that the brand is 

positioning itself as the most spacious MUV ( common sense !). Grande is also hoping to be perceived as a family car , rather than a commercial vehicle. The brand is priced at Rs 7.5 lakh +.

In one of my posts, I had criticized the Tata Motor's strategy of launching Grande under the Sumo brand. Now that that error was rectified, it needs to be seen whether consumers will perceive Grande as different from Sumo. My judgement is that it will be difficult since that association is already being made. So the task for Tata Motors is to put Grande out of the Sumo association as quickly as possible. Interestingly Grande is focusing on the USP - Size which is also the same USP of Sumo.  The brand has been priced competitively but Tata Safari is also priced in the same range so it has to be seen whether these two brands will compete with each other .

The launch of Grande is a move to strengthen the MUV portfolio of Tata Motors which suffered heavily because of sophisticated competing products. Sumo although was a well accepted product was rather getting old in terms of product and image. Tata Motors was not aggressive in making radical product innovations on Sumo or its image to counter competitors like Mahindra and Toyota. Tata Grande is expected to complement Sumo Victa in its fight against the sophisticated competitors. 

Image wise, Grande's launch campaign has done nothing. The ad is very basic and rational and will appeal more to the taxi segment rather than family segment. How ever the pricing and the spruced up interiors will definitely put Grande in advantage over its competitors. The brand could have burned the market if it had priced it less than Rs 7 Lakh. Tata Grande should have aimed at disruption and not incremental value addition since the market is mature and highly competitive. Mahindra is currently doing that with its XUV 500. 

$50 Gift Certificate Giveaway to Uncommon Goods, and Product Review!

UncommonGoods.com was kind enough to send me this wicked awesome Pirate Umbrella, and this scary yet undeniably seductive robot clock, Kim the Talking Clock!

The Pirate Umbrella is nice and long, and feels really sturdy and durable. The handle is plastic, but seems solid. That's a plus to me, because it means it's lighter weight. When you aren't using it, it comes with a strapped carrying bag.

Turtle Revenge

If you think about it, Mario is a little messed up to be jumping on turtles. He's like the turtle Hitler. Hiurtler?
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Thank You Random Stranger

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Ice

40 Reasons Why Women Live Longer

As a man, I can say confidently that we are dumb. Here are fourty examples proving my point:


Looks like someone payed attention in geometry.


Are those 2x2's? You should never prop your car up with anything but a 2x4. Every man knows that.


Paper is fire resistant, right?


Thank you for calling AT&T...


By jove, take a look at these blokes; what silly outfits! 


I hope someone at least "

Focus on the Red Dot, the Blue Circle Will Disappear

Either You Love Bacon or...

Sorry vegetarians, you can't argue with a sign, they are always right.
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In Search Of...

Hello. First off, let me apologize for the lack of podcasts. It's a lame excuse to give, I know, but "I've been busy." Once you read this post, maybe it will shed some light on why I had to take some time off from Jawbone Radio.

If you have following me on Twitter, you may know that I am currently in the market for a Business Manager/Brand Strategist. I've been searching for a person like this for over a year now. Someone to help rudder the Len Peralta brand. I've had spots of luck here and there, but for the most part, I've been doing everything on my own.

I had been reluctant to post anything formal because I was unsure about the type of responses I'd get from taking such a scatter-shot approach on a major social media platform. Also, to be honest, I wasn't completely sure what I was looking for. I've talked to other brand strategists and managers for some friends in new media and they have all given me valuable advice. (I would hire any of them given the chance) However, none of them really do exactly what I'm looking for. Not to sound self-important, but I feel in some ways that I am creating a new category here. This person would not be an artists rep. This person wouldn't be an agent. In a perfect world, this person would help me build and extend my illustration business and help me navigate through projects. I'm sure this person exists, but I can't for the life of me seem to find them.

What follows is a document I've been working on that was helping me clarify what I've been searching for. I admit when I was writing it, I felt like I was trying to write a personal ad. I have to admit, this is sort of tough for me to share. In some ways, taking a step back and admitting I need some assistance with my personal brand goes against what I feel I should do. But I think it may be time for me to take this step forward, if I have any chance of moving past where I am right now.

Take a look and if it sounds like something you can do, or you know someone who fits this bill, please pass it along. I'm willing to talk to all sorts of people, providing they are serious about helping me out.

Ok, Here goes nothing...

----

SEEKING BUSINESS MANAGER/BUSINESS DEVELOPER/BRAND STRATEGIST

I am currently looking for someone to assist me in building my personal brand.

Over the past 10 years, I have worked tirelessly to help forge a strong brand identity for myself. I have had the great fortune of being able to work on some high-profile projects and the opportunity to work alongside well-known IPs and growing franchises. I am at a point now, however, where I feel I have done most of what I can do on my own. I am looking for someone who will work in tandem with me to help bring my brand to the next level.

To that point, I am not looking for someone who can just answer e-mails for me and free up some spare time (although I’m sure to start, there may be some of that, but this is not a secretarial position). I need someone I can throw the ball to, and they can throw it right back to me and challenge my expectations. I am looking for someone who can represent me in a positive light to potential clients. Someone who can run interference when negotiating and help set an equitable rate standard for my services. Someone who can be proactive in identifying, pitching and securing upcoming projects. And finally, someone I can trust completely to help rudder my brand amidst growing competition and uncertain financial times.

I am looking for someone who can assess the sub-brands under my main brand and build and maximize their earning potential.

The ideal candidate must:

Be fearless and be willing to work outside their comfort zone.

Be flexible.

Possess proven skills in marketing and branding.

Be able to think quickly on their feet.

Possess impeccable communication skills.

Have a broadband connection with current communication tools and ability to conference.

Current contacts in the entertainment, publishing or animation industry are a plus, but not mandatory.

I am looking for someone to keep in step with me throughout the entire process. I promise you, this will be fun. I won't settle for less. Does this sound like you? Write me at monsterbymail at gmail dot com. Please use the phrase “Business Manager Inquiry” in the subject line. Please provide a phone number for contact.

---

Phew! *fingers crossed* Let's see what happens.

Brand Update : Parachute Extends to Skincare

In a significant move, Parachute - the flagship coconut oil brand from Marico has extended itself to skincare. Recently Parachute launched its new brand extension- Parachute Advansed Body Lotion. This is a major brand extension from Parachute since its After Shower hair cream launch.

According to newspaper reports, this category extension is to de-risk the brand's dependence on the hair oil segment . The move to launch body lotion also marks a significant shift in the brand's positioning and its image. Parachute now will have to shed its close association with hair oil segment and move to another set of brand attributes and image. 

Parachute is currently running its launch campaign across various media.

Watch the Parachute ad here : Parachute Body Lotion

The ad is very sensuous in nature  trying to convey the message of soft skin that tempts you to touch it again and again. The brand extension has used the tagline " Love Dobara ". The idea and the theme of the campaign is not new. The concept of  a husband rediscovering his love for his wife has been used many a times in Indian advertising for various product categories. Parachute body lotion's campaign hence was not able to make any creative distinction in the launch campaign. The ad also raised some eyebrows among certain consumers owing to the overdose of sensuality in this ad. The use of hedonistic advertising is becoming very popular in the personal care category in recent times.

The brand has retained its focus on coconut based ingredient in this product. The brand is claiming to have 100% natural moisturizers promising a smooth skin. More than the promise, Parachute Advansed Body Lotion is using its price to lure the consumers to it. The brand is priced very competitively at Rs 99 for 250 ml which makes it one of the most value-for-money body lotion available in the market. I think the brand has priced itself to success . Smart Pricing + Existing Brand equity  will ensure that consumers will try out this product for sure.

Body Lotion segment is witnessing lot of activity these days with many brands vying for consumer attention. Consumers are also waking up to this product category and the frequency of usage also has increased. Earlier, these products were predominantly used in winter season. 

Marico has used Parachute Advansed ( sub-brand) to launch value added products to the brand line of Parachute. While parent brand Parachute is being used in the pure coconut oil category, Marico has launched many variants under the Parachute Advansed brand-line. 

The launch of body lotion has made Parachute brand  an umbrella brand endorsing a range of products in various product categories like - Skin care, hair oils, hair care , cooling oil etc. This also necessitates a shift in the overall brand positioning of Parachute brand.

Marico may be looking at making Parachute a personal care brand in future. The brand should then come out of its perception of a hair-care brand. It will be interesting to see how Marico makes this transformation for Parachute. The brand had earlier ran a campaign " Gorgeous Hamesha " for Parachute. The tagline seems very apt for a transformation to a personal care brand for this brand. 

Related Brand

Parachute.  

The Winner of the Skull Bracelet is...

The winner is Jo G. from South Carolina. Congratulations Jo, and thanks to everyone for participating.

I've got a few more giveaways coming up, including a bottle of Bacon Hot Sauce, Jewelry from Etsy, and a $50 gift certificate to UncommonGoods.com, so make sure to come back often.

Human Hamster Ball Party

Why? Because living in your parent's basement and not having a job leave's you with a lot of spare time and energy; that's why. I wanna play, but I wasn't invited. It's elementry all over again! Mom!



Thanks Andy!