OnePlus is taking the market for a “Disruption” ride…

I am sure by now you may have come across a brand by the name “OnePlus”. If you haven’t, then read the next para, else skip the next para and read on. End-if. Phew, you can take your life out of programming, but you cannot take programming out of your life!

{OnePlus is a smartphone brand from China. Their first product (and as on date, their only product) is curiously named OnePlus One. They came up with an audacious claim that their smartphone is a flagship killer and guess what, they delivered! With features that match the flagships when it was launched and price that’s a fraction of what these flagships demand, they literally took the telecommunication world by surprise. They even introduced the invite system to buy the smartphone which led to an increasing desire in the consumer space. This strategy balanced the demand-supply equation. They are now coming up with a new product, OnePlus 2, with even better features with price less than $450/-. The wow factor is the launch – it can be viewed on a VR cardboard – what a way to use Virtual Reality!}

If you are reading this line, then I am sure you know something about the brand. But there are reasons, I believe, why OnePlus is actually disrupting the smartphone industry. I have touched upon them in my post I wrote on IdeasMakeMarket. Please do read and let me know your thoughts.

I am using their product – OnePlus One – and it’s a stunningly powerful gadget without burning a hole in my pocket. I simply cannot wait for OnePlus 2. The expectations are sky-high, hope the brand lives up to it. 

July 27th, that’s the date.

Ek Nayi League: What could it be?

The other day, I was surfing the net and reading sports articles when I accidentally saw one of Kapil Dev’s 1 minute video. He was talking something about playing “dil se” and why it succeeds. But towards the end of the video, he said we will fail if we play “dil se” in “Ek Nayi League”. This got me hooked. I searched for “Ek Nayi League” and came across this website - http://www.eknayileague.com/

The aforementioned website has more videos where Kapil Dev described about a renowned Indian person (Dhoni, Yuvraj, Sania for instance) and talks about how passionately they have achieved all the success in their area of expertise. How they have battled all odds (Yuvraj Singh from Cancer and Sania Mirza for elevating Women’s tennis in India). Kapil Dev think MS Dhoni shouldn’t retire after developing such a fantastic Cricket team. But one common thread that binds all these videos is that these champions will fail if they play with all their heart in a new league codenamed “Ek Nayi League”. 

Kapil Dev ends his videos by saying he will reveal the concept of the league soon. When a living legend, who brought India on a global Cricketing platform, tries to describe and tease you with something new, you better stand and take notice. I am no different. So I thought, why can’t I take a calculated guess as to what the new concept / new league is all about? 

Image courtesy: http://www.eknayileague.com/

Key takeaways from the videos and Kapil Dev’s image from the website – 

• Top performers will fail if they play with their heart
• It’s more to do with the mind than the heart
• The concept has to be something to do with renowned people in society, at least their examples are sought to put forward the point
• Kapil Dev is involved, either as a brand ambassador or as a host of the league

Here are my guesses – 

1. How about a “reality-show” league where a certain number of celebrities will compete either as individuals or as teams. There will be competitions where participants have to use their intellect to succeed. Individuals / teams will play against each other and points will be awarded. There will be a points table, similar to the IPL competition. Once the round-robin competitions are done, there will be a grand finale, typical of a reality-show, to decide the winner. This seems possible since such a game show is not present in Indian television at this point. Celebrities will also bring in more viewership. Kapil Dev’s teaser campaign suggests that the makers are confident of the concept and hence take a risk with such a marketing concept. 
2. If this is not about a television show, then it must be an advert of a product. The climax of the teaser videos by Kapil Dev will culminate in revealing an existing product category with a different concept. Now, as per the takeaways mentioned above, what could that product possibly be? Something to do with the mind. In one of the videos, Kapil Dev suggests Dhoni should not consider retirement. This makes me believe that the product category should be something that either prolongs retirement and / stimulates intellect. If my presumptions are correct, then it could be an Insurance advertisement of a new insurance product. Kapil Dev as brand ambassador also adds added weight to a product where trust in the brand matters.
3. One of the few sports where mind rules over heart is the game of Chess. We have had IPL-like concepts replicated in Badminton, Lawn Tennis, Kabaddi, Hockey. Will Chess be next in line? Some of the takeaways mentioned above support this line of thought – mind over heart and the fact that retirement can be delayed. But it doesn’t connect all the dots. Also, an IPL like league for Chess will cater to a niche audience. This appears to be a remote possibility, but a possibility nevertheless.

Let’s now wait and see what Kapil Dev has up his sleeve. Will it be a bouncer or a Yorker? Time will tell.

Chinese product in Indian pockets!

Move over Apple and Samsung. It’s time for a Dragon invasion! Not literally though, but figuratively it could be as massive as a dragon itself. I am talking about Chinese smartphones in Indian market.

An year or two ago, only a handful knew about Xiaomi, OnePlus, Oppo. Now, a significant proportion of the smartphone crazy consumers are aware of these brands preferably due to favorable reviews. But these products are Chinese. Why take a leap of faith and move over the Samsung’s / HTC’s / Apple’s of the world to buy a Chinese smartphone?

For one, they have almost all the features present in the flagships of top smartphone manufacturers. Still not convinced? Let’s try again – they sell for almost 1/3rd of the price of these flagships! Are you now looking at me with suspicion? “What’s the catch?” you may ask. There’s no catch at all. These are new companies who have adopted new selling models which significantly reduce the cost of the smartphone. Their model is to sell online using flash sales at minimum marketing cost (at least till they establish themselves). So, I can understand if you have not heard about the brand but their operating strategy makes it very difficult to reach you unless you are in touch with a smartphone crazy friend. 

Last to last week, I finally crossed the “Invite Only” hurdle to buy OnePlus One. They sell this brand online and through word-of-mouth marketing. Tech savvy consumers / reviewers buy the phone at near-cost price, love the specs and provide their feedback (mostly positive). I have now used it for almost 2 weeks now and must admit, using OnePlus One is a breeze. But I took a leap of faith on the durability aspect. Only time will answer my query.

If my gut-feel on these Chinese products aren’t enough, Ratan Tata has now invested significantly in Xiaomi! There must be some logic to the Chinese smartphone madness right? All this points to only one thing, your next flagship smartphone will have stiff competition with Chinese ones and chances are that you will buy the Chinese smartphone (after all, pricing matters to Indian consumers).

Click here for the detailed article I wrote for IdeasMakeMarket.com with respect to this topic.  Do read and let me know your thoughts.

Why "PK" has to deliver now?

Movies are usually promoted in multiple ways. A 150 second official trailer is one of them. A trailer is (normally) supposed to inform the moviegoer what a movie contains, a brief storyline, some punching dialogues, a song that’s among the chartbusters. These 150-odd seconds should attract the viewer to watch the movie when it’s released - a crucial moment of truth for the movie. Having a popular actor or successful director or sequel to a successful movie has its own pull factor. For example, a Salman Khan / Shahrukh Khan movie will be watched by his loyalists irrespective of the trailer / songs / storyline etc. Director Rohit Shetty ensures his movie is full of entertainment and car chases. A Dhoom series will be watched despite what you think of it.

Once in a while comes a movie that goes against the norms of movie promotion. So much so that the movie will be released in a few days’ time and we still don’t know for sure what this movie is all about. I am, of course, talking about “PK”. The movie posters don’t reveal much. The movie trailer is more intriguing than the posters. These touch-points confuse more than convince. We have no idea of the story, no idea of the genre, hardly any concrete information on key characters. Initially, there were rumours that “PK” is about god-men and then about Aamir Khan’s character as an alien. 

“PK” team has gone for teaser campaigns to promote their product. The beauty about teaser campaign is that it will keep on testing the viewers, make them think. Maybe PK will be the name of Aamir Khan’s character, we don’t know for sure. Aamir Khan’s character appears to be very curious about everything that’s happening around him (Ranchordas from 3 Idiots, anyone?). He goes against the society norms, wears almost comical outfits. We already have many theories regarding “PK” based on the poster background, Aamir Khan’s attire, his wide open eyes, his exposed ears, the transistor et al. People are talking and now it has reached a stage that they want to watch what the movie is all about. Curiosity kills the cat, they say. And till now, “PK” has succeeded to do what they wanted. 

But teaser campaigns are a double edged sword. It’s a high risk, high reward game. The teasers will involve viewers like no other promotional channels. But the climax has to live up to the teasers. And the team, led by Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, knows that this is a huge gamble. And that’s where the problem lies with “PK”. The critical success / failure depends on the climax now, which is the movie itself. The climax should be at least as good as, if not better than, the promotions. And even if it’s slightly less exciting, the same people who are talking about it and are part of the viral marketing campaign, will go against you. 

After all the intrigue, “PK” now has to deliver and deliver big. A product of Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Aamir Khan is bound to be financially successful, but these are the same people who also vouch by critical acclaim and that’s what should matter more than money. I am an Aamir Khan fan and I expect this to be an epic, but don’t count on me. I am the same guy who thought Aamir Khan will bring his unique and smart touch to the Dhoom series and I obviously messed up my prediction last year. 

“PK” will mint money for sure, but can it sustain and bring in more people than anticipated remains to be seen. The promotions have ensured that this could either be a “3 Idiots” or a “Dhoom 3”.