Grandpa’s brand, product and media journey

Every now and then, I cut and paste or write about some absolute junk. Often, it’s just something that caught the eye and that I found entertaining. Today’s cut-paste job is more than entertainment – it’s an amazing perspective on the world we live in, the world of brands, the world of media and the world of marketing.

What you have to guess is, how old is the grandfather in the story that is related below?

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events. The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general. The Grandfather replied, 'Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:

television

penicillin

polio shots

frozen foods

Xerox

contact lenses

Frisbees and

the pill

There were no:

credit cards

laser beams

or ball-point pens

Man had not invented:

pantyhose

air conditioners

dishwashers

clothes dryers

and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air

and man hadn't yet walked on the moon

Your Grandmother and I got married first, . . and then lived together. Every family had a father and a mother. Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, 'Sir'. And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, 'Sir.' We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy. Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense. We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions. Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent. Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins. Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started. Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums. We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings. We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey. If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan ' on it, it was junk. The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam. Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of. We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents. Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel. And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards. You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, . . . but who could afford one? Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon. In my day: ' 'grass' was mowed, ' 'coke' was a cold drink, ' 'pot' was something your mother cooked in and ' 'rock music' was your grandmother's lullaby. ' 'Aids' were helpers in the Principal's office, ' ' chip' meant a piece of wood, ' 'hardware' was found in a hardware store and ' 'software' wasn't even a word. And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby. No wonder people call us 'old and confused' and say there is a generation gap... and how old do you think I am?

I bet you have this old man in mind...you are in for a shock! Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time. This man would be only 59 years old ! ! !

iBlog, iTag, iWin

The visual is a printscreen from the technorati.com home page, and is an updated list of top tags for yesterday.

It was tagged at home too, with my daughter (who was Nokia loyal till the pink MotoRazr hit the market) expressing disappointment about the fact that the iPhone will take a year to hit India. She, who owns an iPod that has a non-functional battery.

And there's doubt on whether the iPhone will sell?

Levi’s launches jeans for suckers

The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Sometime in the late 1800s, PT Barnum (might have) said, “A sucker is born every minute.”
And Levi’s, who have an awesome memory, extricated this gem from the recesses of their corporate brain.
And launched a pair of iPod compatible jeans, which will cost the Indian consumer Rs. 9,000 a pop.

And they will sell many pairs.

Because, sometime in the late 1800s, PT Barnum (might have) said, “A sucker is born every minute.”

And despite what Henry Ford might have said, History is not bunk.

The child is the father of the man

A few minutes ago, my daughter turned eighteen.
And I worry.
Not about the normal generation gap issues, but about the closure of the generation gap.
My daughter and my son (who will be twenty in April) keep me in touch with a world that is incredibly important. And incredibly complex.
And a world that one cannot learn about by reading.
It’s a world that I learn about by watching my children, by talking to them, by being with them.
The world of the Indian teen.
Through them, I figured out that Macarena would rule, but only for the moment.
I figured out StereoNation’s Oh Carol WOULD become cool.
I learnt about the power of peer pressure when it was important that they had the Harry Potter book on the day it was released.
And I learnt that the world is more complex for them than it was for me.
And I learnt that the options that they have before them are not quite the blessing that I perceived they were.
And I learnt, from them, that Close Up Gel would threaten Colgate.
And I figured out that MTV was becoming cooler than Channel [V]. Later, I learnt that MTV was becoming uncool.
And I knew, from them, that the iPod would rule, and that the Motorazr would be a threat to Nokia.
And I knew, from them, that Kingfisher Airlines was a product for the future.
And I learnt, from my daughter, that it is important to notice the beggar on the road. And to buy him a snack.
And I learnt, from my son, that higher education in India sucks, even in premium institutes.

And I learnt, and I learnt and I learnt.

And today, my daughter turned eighteen.
In a few months from now, my son will turn twenty.

And I worry.

Tomorrow, who will teach me?

Rd ths n lol!

I can’t understand half the text messages that I receive from my daughter, thanks to her use of text-speak as opposed to the Queen’s English. Now it’s creeping into e-mail messages, and it gets on my nerves. And I keep worrying about Gen M’s inability to spell, about what impact this would have on their writing abilities, on the literature of the future, on the newspapers of the future, on any damn thing in the future that uses the written word.
In India, Aroon Purie saw the future, and launched Headlines Today, a news channel that seemingly understood the attention deficiency of today’s youth. Short stories, crisply delivered, in distinct youth-speak. And I marveled, at the time of launch, at the positioning that Purie had the vision to see. And the channel went nowhere.
Perhaps the problem is that Headlines Today went only halfway into the future. Maybe it should have been christened Hdlinz 2day.
No, I’m not joking.
Because the youth of today are so used to the abbreviated spellings that authorities in New Zealand are allowing students to use sms-speak in their examinations.
Told you I wasn’t joking – read about it on CNN’s site.
And lol!

Fatter, Younger, Broker

Frito-Lay Angrily Introduces Line Of Healthy Snacks

This one is just a load of laughs.

And it's completely relevant, as India gets fatter, younger and broker. We're inundated with a flood of junk food, and just as the western world starts pondering on the dangers of conspicuous consumption of the said junk food, young India embraces the salts and the fats and the cholestrol of mighty multinational brands. And mighty Indian brands.

There are some messages which need spoof and satire to make an impact, and the article in the Onion is one such.

Enjoy. The article, not the junk food. Just click on the image.

BW disrobes Gen M

If you haven’t laid your hands on the special issue of BusinessWorld with a “Peek Into the mind of India’s Youth” as the cover story, read it online here (registration required, but it’s free!). Conducted by BW and Hansa Research, the survey’s results, though largely predictable, are reassuring for all brands banking on super spends by Gen M.
The use of the Internet and the efficacy finds attention in a mini case study of http://www.sunsilkgangofgirls.com/ . So does the blogging phenomenon. Could they leave out Orkut? No, they couldn’t!
And the shocker of the findings? Indian youth is getting comfortable with their dark skin, so the future’s not fair or lovely for Fair and Lovely.