Archive for December, 2007

Lame Management: Cafe Coffee Day — When Management Successfully Does Things To Drive Regular And Paying Customers Away

Recently, at the Cafe Coffee Day outlet near Ashoka Pillar, Bangalore (South), we asked:

Could you please change the television channel to the cricket match? We just want to catch the score.

To which came the reply:

Sorry sir. Management has asked us to keep the television tuned to only music channels.

Management for management’s sake — that’s what […]

Download An MP3 Of The Title Track Of The Doordarshan TV Serial Jungle Book

 

Download the Jungle Book MP3.

Thanks to reader Nagesh Manjunath Rao for the MP3.

Lame Advertising: Hyundai i10 — We’re Taking This Car On Its Last Rites

Listen very carefully to the background music. Don’t you think it sounds as if the i10 is being taken on its last rites? At the 35th second of the ad, although the hot model says “I wish I could catch it,” she actually means “I wish I could get out of this advertisement.” And the […]

Lame — But Classic — Marketing: Maruti SX4 — It’s Not A Bug Silly, It’s A Safety Feature

If you’ve sat on the driver’s seat of a Maruti SX4, you’ll definitely have observed a huge blind spot in the front right portion caused by a wedge shaped A pillar.

On my way to work today morning, I tuned in to a program on Radio City during which SX4 owners in Bangalore could have a […]

Tip: Where Can You Get Computerised Wheel Balancing And Alignment Done For Your Car Or Two-Wheeler In Bangalore?

Head over to:

Madhus Enterprises

No. 35/5, Langford Road
Near Double Road Circle
Bangalore — 560 025.

Tel: +91 80 41519430 / 50
Email: me [at] madhusindia [dot] com

Highly recommended. I’ve personally witnessed their efficiency in service. They use high-precision wireless equipment to get the job done. You can also get your vehicle’s emission test done here.

PS: Thanks to Notary for […]

Tweets on 2007-12-12

Technology is useless if not used for the greater good of serving the customer. We are a strongly customer-oriented company, and we often use the “working from the customer backwards” approach. This means that in your thought process, you start with the customer and work your way backwards until you have found the simple and […]

Tweets on 2007-12-10

Is that the reason so many tea-things are put out here?

Alice asked.

Yes, that’s it,

the Hatter sighed:

It’s always tea-time here, and we’ve no time to wash the things between whiles.

A quote from Alice in Wonderland; also found on an exquisite wall hanging at Infinitea, my favorite tea shop.

Lame Advertising: Hit Insecticide — Taking The India vs. China Game To New Lows

Do we need this when we know this?

… the Chinese banks have an enormous volume of bad loans — $911 billion at May 2006, according to a later-withdrawn estimate by Ernst and Young, which must surely have ballooned to $1.2-1.3 trillion now.

That explains why China Investment is somewhat un-aggressive in its international investment strategy. China’s […]

Tweets on 2007-12-06

Starting this week, I’ll publish links to interviews with accomplished people (industry veterans, authors, et al.). I have always learnt a thing or two from such interviews. Let me know if you find this useful.

In India the whole system is set up for 5 to 6 percent annual GDP growth. The sudden growth of more […]

Tweets on 2007-12-05

Says ICICI Bank:

Carefully Read The MITC.

While applying for a credit card, insist on your agent to provide you with the Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC). Also, carefully read through the terms and conditions before signing your application form.

Makes me wonder if there are any Less/Least Important Terms and Conditions (LITC) that ICICI Bank isn’t […]

Lame Advertising: Motorola’s Moto Yuva — No Wonder The Shareholders Are Unhappy

If you run a mobile phone company and broadcast your wares with such lame advertisements, especially in a market considered to be Mecca of the telecom world, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that your shareholders are unhappy.

Read: Motorola Replaces Chief With an Insider.

Said the dissident shareholder Carl C. Icahn,

I believe that the steps announced […]

For Public Comment: Recovery Agents Engaged By Banks — Draft Guidelines

In view of the rise in the number of litigations against banks in the recent past for engaging recovery agents, it is felt that the adverse publicity might result in serious reputation risk not only for the bank concerned but also for the banking sector as a whole. An urgent need has, therefore, arisen to […]

Lame Advertising: Videocon — A Complete Waste Of Shareholders’ Money

The first time I saw this ad, I felt worse than a toad on a frying pan. This is the third straight lame advertisement from Shah Rukh Khan (see the first and second). Given his unsatiated fetish to endorse anything non-living, he’s got to quickly reposition himself as the “King of Lame Advertising.”

I found […]

Tweets on 2007-12-02

Here’s a snippet from the latest issue of Outlook Money:
Following the recent judgment by the Delhi State Commission fining ICICI Bank Rs 55 lac for using goons to recover a vehicle loan, the bank had decided to cut down on small-ticket loans. Says a senior general manager at ICICI Bank,

We have cut down loans ranging […]

Tweets on 2007-12-01

If Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is really able to erect an underpass in just three days in Bangalore and throw it open to traffic, it would be a miracle that would rank just below God’s work of creating the world in six days.

– Expert’s view on the BBMP’s proposed instant underpasses.


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