Developing talent

Nurturing and developing talent in the current economic scenario is key to a progressive future for India. Chief of Hewitt mentions : India's cost advantage is sustainable for atleast 45 yrs from now, provided there is continued training and development of talent.

The world is getting flatter and economies - specially the west, more agnostic. Let me explain - earlier India was a favourite with the USSR (when it still existed). There are no favorites anymore. Those offering the best deal bag it! If tomorrow Philippines or Vietnam was to provide the same cost advantage with on par or better talent, the economies wouldn't take time to shift there. What happened to Porter and "switching costs". Does that concept even exist anymore??

I am still not sure how could we remain competitive by developing talent ?.The current education system is almost punitive to the student class by encouraging and propagating reservation. Reservation to whom ? - the economically backward? no not really, it's the creamy layer amongst backward classes who are not exempt to benefits of reservation.

Both graduates and under graduates, who have some iota of talent are looking at the west for further studies and for better paying jobs. Whose talent do we develop then?

I would think we have a tricky future facing us. Is the economic/ financial boom in the country truly sustainable ? I wonder......

Packaging - English or multi-lingual?

Heard of 'Creator's bias' ? This is when the creator sees things from his mind's eye, where he believes that everyone around him sees things the way he sees them. Technically it would be defined as the tendency by the class creating a product to imagine that those consuming the product are very similar in orientation to themselves.

So accustomed to seeing the brand on the pack mentioned in English, I always gave this thought a miss. Is it a better idea to have the brand name on the pack, in a multi-lingual country like ours, in English or some other language???

Now let's imagine ; you walk into a store to pick one of your regular brands of toothpaste and other than the familiar red and white pack, the font seems unfamiliar. Not just unfamiliar but just not fit for my consumption. Imagine purchasing a pack of toothpaste which reads "colgate" (in hindi or telugu or even urdu for that matter). Just does not feel like your brand of toothpaste....does it? This is precisely one of the reasons that marketers of fmcg and such use English so profusely on the pack. They feel the same way - people associate English with some degree of premiumness.

Another reason that some leading fmcg companies provide for not having a non English pack is because it can prove to be a logistical nightmare. Just imagine, as a marketer, when you need to spend money not only on printing packs in different regional languages but also ensuring that the right one reaches the right region. One interesting observation by a Strategy officer from an ad firm - "how are multi-language newspapers managing logistics?!" so why is it so difficult for an fmcg marketer. Hmm good question!

The marketers however defend their stand by stating that the brand name in English, over a period of time and exposure, serves more as a mnemonic and what matters at the end is communication, which anyway is executed in various languages - whether it is PoPs, danglers or even inserts or instructions for use.

So what if the brand name on the pack is in English, so long as the brand gets identified, and the English language provides that 'dash of premiumness' to the brand!, marketers are smiling all the way :)