Rahul's Scribblings

SONY ERICSSON TAKES THE REBRANDING ROUTE !!

2009-12-14T17:27:00.004+05:30

Hi this post comes in the series of LOGOS and the logic behind them. I may not uncover many logos here but its Sony Ericssons new branding initiative that caught my attention and i felt like uncovering the logic behind it so here it goes i promise it would be a nice read.

The Swedish telecom equipment provider Ericsson is looking for a new identity to make the brand more vibrant at a time when the company is moving from being just a equipment provider to one which managers services. The brand is trying to mark a transition to a new culture of openness and enhanced interaction with customers via digital and social media properties. In an initiative to mark the change the global major has gone for a re branding exercise wherein it has not only redesigned the logo but also changed the tagline from "TAKING YOU FORWARD " to "MAKE.BELIEVE" !!

The telecommunication industry is changing rapidly from voice to data across the globe and India too is about to witness the change with 3G auctions round the corner. Sony has gone about using the standard green logo in addition to seven new colors. The logo is designed to make it more visually appealing and playful. The company also is trying to take a more open position, offering users to take a more active role in developing the brand with the help of interactive digital media and social channels. This comes at a time when all other companies have gone for CO BRANDING to enhance the brand experience, brand image and earn brand recognition.

Adding seven new variations of color and "LIQUID IDENTITY " does help in diversifying the look. On the face of it the changes look a bit too simple, the name of Ericsson is now in dark blue instead of white earlier and the background which was earlier dark blue is now white. The new logo may be simple but its powerful in the sense it drives across the message that company is at the forefront of providing data technology around the globe.

For a company which has been around for about 130 years having new colors in related to its work and new product offerings thereby making it more vibrant, dynamic and colorful. Sony Ericsson has lined up few new products for the market and from the logos it can be assumed that Majestic brown may be for XPERIA. The icy blue may be for SATIO. The other models are YARI and AINO.

Sony Ericsson is also the official sponsor of FIFA WORLD CUP 2010 and it is believed that new logo would be believed then. The change in tagline also ensures that company has moved ahead and are taking leadership in cutting edge technology.In the new tagline MAKE. BELIEVE "make" refers to the company's ability to turn projects into reality and "believe" represents the ideas and ideals of the company- "the ability to think, dream and imagine " The small point in between the two expressions symbolizes the meeting between the dream and reality. It would also launch a viral campaign SPARK SOMETHING to support mobile phones SATIO, YARI and AINO. In India Sony Ericsson is loosing ground to Nokia and Samsung so re branding exercise was necessary. India is among the top five markets for the company and it generates about 7-8 % of revenue for them. In India it has its manufacturing hub and global network operating center which supports Ericssons operation in 23 countries. Looks Ericsson is all set to bounce back but how successful the initiative would it be only time will tell. In the meantime we'll wait for the campaign and the products to be launched.

Please do write your feedbacks and comments.

Thanyou !!!

The STORY of LOGOS !!!!

2009-12-07T02:19:00.000+05:30

HI Friends !!!!

I just came across this article and found it really useful so felt I should share it with you guys...Its a nice read i'll add few more in coming days....

I am not sure how many of you have noticed a hidden symbol in the Federal Express logo

Yeah, I am talking about the 'arrow' that you can see between the E and the x in this logo. The arrow was introduced to underscore speed and precision, which are part of the positioning of the company.

The SUN Microsystems logo is a wonderful example of symmetry and order. It was a brilliant observation that the letters u and n while arranged adjacent to each other look a lot like the letter S in a perpendicular direction. Spectacular.

The above logo is for an editing studio. I like the way the logo (apple shaped) attempts to convey what they do.

The above are two magazines from the Readers Digest stable. Again, the attempt to communicate what it is about quite figuratively through the logo catches my attention.

I liked this logo of a hair stylist for the cheeky humour it brings to the (dressing) table.

This was a logo created for a puzzle game called Cluenatic. This game involves unravelling four clues. The logo has the letters C, L, U and E arranged as a maze. and from a distance, the logo looks like a key.

This logo is too good. For the name Eight, they have used a font in which each letter is a minor adaptation of the number 8.

Eighty-20 is a small consulting company which does sophisticated financial modeling, as well as some solid database work. All their work is highly quantitative and relies on some serious computational power, and the logo is meant to convey it.

People first guess that 20% of the squares are darkened, but that turns out to be false after counting them. The trick is to view the dark squares as 1's and the light squares as 0's. Then the top line reads 1010000 and the bottom line reads 0010100, which represent 80 and 20 in binary. Kinda like the surreal green screen of The Matrix, they want us to read stuff in binary.

This was a logo designed in-house for some internal event at IBM. I like that they are quite relaxed about the logo, unlike certain other companies who do not like the logo to be tampered with in any way even for internal promotions.

I hope this would give a fair idea of how much it goes into designing a LOGO....i'll add to the series of logos in my next post after doin some groundwork.....do post your comments.....!!!

Thankyou !!!!

WINDOWS 7 ~ Can it do it for MICROSOFT !!

2009-11-18T23:32:00.000+05:30

Windows 7, the latest operating system by Microsoft is one of the most awaited products after the dismal performance of Windows Vista and a super success of Windows XP. It has opened to good reviews. This would have definitely given Microsoft a sigh of relief at the grand reception it has received. I have personally started using it and so far it has been good. It has brilliant features and it also uses less memory compared to Vista. This also is more responsive. One of the things that stands out is its customizable task bar wherein you can organize the items. One can drag and drop and reorder and do whatever one wants. One can right click on the desktop and just add a gadget or hide a gadget. Windows media player also plays all types of files. It also comes with IE 8.0 version. It is definitely user friendly and the evidence of that can be seen from the fact that all the major PC makers are scrambling to offer Windows 7 based systems, including Netbooks, as they believe it would spur up the PC sales. However the risk here is the fact that it may be too early to comment on its success since Vista too was rated high and the rest is history.

But as it it is said technology can never be perfect and there are some loopholes with Windows 7 as well. one of the biggest is the lack of upgrade from XP, the operating system which still continues to run on almost 80% world's computers. An user will have to install it fresh. Windows could have given an option of upgrade since XP is a leader and enjoys high market share. This would have made it convenient for the users. Thus users will find hectic to install, reinstall all the softwares and migrate user settings. This may give way to negative PR and backlash.

The reason for Vista's failure was the need for hardware upgrade Windows 7 also needs the same changes and hopefully it may not hurt them this time around since the PC configuration has already seen a jump since Vista days.

User Account Control (AUC) is one more problem for Windows 7 since it is designed to prevent unauthorized execution of code by displaying a pop up whenever a change was made to the system. This annoyed users in case of Vista since it popped not only for third party access but also for changes made by OS. Hopefully that may not happen here.

Pricing is one more factor that may hamper its progress since home basic priced at Rs 5,899 and the high-end-version at Rs 11,799 may not be right that also at a time when spending has taken a backseat. The computer manufactures like HCL, Acer and HP have priced windows 7 enabled systems in the Rs 20,000-80,000 range depending on the product which sounds more reasonable.

The Biggest challenge however will be PIRACY because in markets like India and China the product was available much before the launch at a very cheap price.

Keeping aside all these problems Mr. Steve Ballmer would have high hopes from this new version and will really be hoping to gain the lost ground after Windows Vista failure. I have also kept my fingers crossed for History to not repeat this time.

Do post your comments. Thank You !!!!!!!

SONY VAIO ~ POSITIONING STRATEGY !!!!

2009-11-17T18:19:00.000+05:30

We all know about the brand SONY and the popularity it enjoys amongst the customers. The Brand has evolved as a preferred choice for any notebook lover. However Sony Vaio is currently running a campaign featuring Kareena Kapoor as the brand ambassador for its Vaio range of ultra-portable laptops. This is a new product in the category and has roped in Kareena Kapoor as the brand ambassador. Kareena is no doubt a leading Bollywood actress and has a huge fan following but how well does these two ( the brand and the leading lady ) compliment each other. The advertisement can be seen below..

Upon watching the commercial i had two question :

1. Does Sony really need a brand ambassador for the Vaio brand.

2. Vaio had had some brilliant commercial and had built a premium image without the help of any stars.

So why this step ??

Sony is positioning Vaio not as a notebook but as the ultra-thin laptop and also as a lifestyle accessory. But a discerning consumer will think twice before splurging Rs 85000 for such a product. The brand is fighting for the market along side the competitor Mac Air. The competitor has positioned its product in the "Ultralight" category . Sleek and elegant and remarkably sturdy it is an users delight.

Now talking about the ad..it is not one of the most impressive ads i have come across because the focus is more on the brand ambassador than on the product. The brand is trying to cash in on the " Size Zero " rage popularized by Kareena. The brand is feeling that consumers will find a connection between the " thin " Kareena and the " thin " Sony Vaio. This to an extent makes sense but the brand fails to deliver on the product quality and features front. This somehow falls in the category of ads where the brand ambassador dominates the brand and the consumer is left in a dilemma.

Thus I think that for a brand like Sony, it could have depended more on the creativity of the ad guys to make the brand popular than piggybacking on some thin stars.

This was my take on the topic...if there is other way of looking at the topic under consideration then please do post your view.....

Thank You...!!

EYE TEST !!!!!!!

2009-11-16T16:50:00.000+05:30

EYE TEST !!!!

Look at the Picture..

Have you noticed the girl in the background?

What do you see....

Noticed her bum ??

Well look at the picture carefully...if your answer is YES then go and see an OPTOMETRIST!!!

Because what you see is the SHOULDER of the girl taking the picture..

You dirty mind............:P

Does Love Really Exist ???

2009-03-29T00:45:00.000+05:30

I used to think of myself as little boy with a huge LOVE for living and i felt this love like an endless source of motives to be happy. Unfortunately I have lived some unpleasant situations that make me believe there is no love, it only was my imagination. You can see people cheating each other, hiding their feelings and trying to take advantage of other's weakness; that's how the world works, people say I wanna believe in love, but the reality say the opposite.In my opinion, "someone"-a long time ago, obviously- sat down and thought that "love" would be a nice idea, and they probably thought that they could force his/her idea on everyone else. They have of course succeeded. I don't know whether this "someone" was a man or a woman, as it would probably only be a woman who could come up with such a cutesy idea, or a man since it never worked out. I also don't know since i wasn't there.

When we are young and the world is new to us we discover feelings for the first time and they are so strong and powerful we can hardly stand it. But then LIFE shows us what reality is about and we start to pay closer attention to the things around us and are not so overwhelmed by it all and learn how to cope with people, places, and things on a level as to protect ourselves some what. We go through many trials and tribulations and thrills, and chills, along the way until one day we are awakened by one of those really clear realities that we love someone and are loved the same way in return. That's when the whole world changes. We start asking whether we are in love?? We get the the answer when we are 30 years old surrounded by 2 kids.

So what starts as an attraction with nice emotional complacency takes the form of less physical attraction and more financial pleasing and ends in divorce BUT there is a different school of thought which believes love is a feeling of fluttering hearts, warmth, happiness, loyalty, excitement and romance. A feeling which binds us all together few also go the extent of saying that it's one of our needs ( needs hierarchy ). We do love ourselves and there is love within a family. Parents love their kids and can do anything for them. Some categorise love as EMOTIONAL based and TRUE love but there is no clear definition to love as it's a feeling not an object.Love is a faith based on belief with no scientific backing.

I feel If Love was there than why is our society falling apart, why do we have that many divorces, why do we have terrorism, why do we have infanticides, why do man get a woman pregnant and leave, why don't people accept two members of same sex in love since love is believed to conquer all right even the boundaries of sexual identity, if love was worth more than money than why don't rich share their wealth with poor one's , why would we shoot, poison, starve and bomb our brothers and sisters..LOVE IS AN ILLUSION.....

I still can't take a stand if it really exists so kindly take a call and let me know if you have the answer to this million dollar question...you are free to mail me..............Thank You ....

Tata Nano a Boon for the common Man...

2009-03-28T00:58:00.000+05:30

For huge numbers of people in India the imminent introduction of the world's cheapest car -- the Nano -- is a boon to families all over the developing world that currently speed around town on overloaded two-wheelers, often with an infant perched precariously on someone's lap... For many, it represents a leap, overnight, from the indignity of two-wheeled motor scooters to the relative luxury of four wheels and a roof..Environmentalists, however, have decried the Nano and its low-cost imitators as an impending disaster..

So Many people have talked so much about the car which is obvious since its a revolution in itself..right from day one this car has been in media more beacuse of bad reasons than gud.. Initially people laughed at Ratan Tata's dream of manufactring a people's car priced @ 1 lac rupees once they were silenced there was a bigger devil in the form of Mamta Banerjee who not only was a roadblock in India's dominance in the automobile industry but also made situation worse for the already ailing West Bengal's economy...

After a lot of political drama finally the Car has been launched and it's everyone's reach since its priced @ $2000..For millions the car has become emblematic of their aspirations..

Certainly, the seemingly guaranteed success of the Nano may create more traffic and strain on India’s already rickety urban infrastructure..but this would also lead to the development of infrastructure and the living standard of individuals and society @ large..Oll in oll its win win situation for the common man.........