IndianMaze

Few friends were drowning their sorrows in the respective preference of drinks at a club. This is usual but for the venue. Normally, these suited friends would be seen in the 5 Star bars and drinks would be Single Malts, Rose wines etc. Club menu offers limited choices and almost half the prices offered by 5 Star bars. Expected. The interesting bit was when one asked "what would people do when they want to save money but still pass time?" Opportunity strikes in most adverse circumstances. To cut a long story short, consensus was that people will spend more time socialising at home with families and friends and consume more food (part home cooked and part packaged/ordered from nearby restaurant) and consume more media. I sense an opportunity for TV channels (more time spent), magazines (more readership per copy and time spent), radio, video rentals. Does it mean more DVD players being sold? why not? Are creative guys working on it? Opportunity for more advertising?

Over the much touted by management but insipid lunch in the canteen on the 3rd floor of the office, our marketing manager was seriously hot. It, unfortunately, was not because of the special small green chillies on the table. "I hate that bloody b!@#$%^" in a hushed tone. "Swears by A programme but will not advertise on it. DOUBLE STANDARDS." We all hate but practice. The case in discussion is language. Why is that language of comfort amongst family/friends is different from colleagues? Even if so for a valid reason - is one more valuable than the other. English Medium School English comics English novels are all valued and paid for at a higher level than the language ones. English newspapers attract a much higher advertising rate than a vernacular one. Why double standards? How do we price our offerings? How and why Hindi TV channels command a higher price than English ones? Food for thought.....

Life takes turns..... a little too swiftly in Indian consumers' case. I was having discussions with a close friend yesterday evening while sipping a large cup of Black Assam Tea brewed perfectly by the expert from the pantry (more on that a little later in the post). The discussions went to media industry where both of us have personal and professional interests. He was very interested in niche channels of interest that otherwise get lost in the sea of offerings. He was very keen to move from one DTH operator to another as his favourite channel was not being shown. We got discussing new channels and the future of channels in India. Back to the choice issue after sipping more of delicious tea, we got to look at the comprehensive offerings made by two of the leading DTH operators. It just so happened that none of the two had a full choice of this friend of mine. Now the issue came that actually there are a few of his (and his family's) choices that are not available on either of...