Marketing the Green concept!!

This article comes on the backdrop of the just concluded UN Climate summit at Copenhagen. Given all the hype which had surrounded the event, it BASICally boiled down to an informal deal between the US and the 4 countries under the banner BASIC namely Brazil, South Africa, India and China. During the summit, a lot of negativity surfaced out of the negotiations which happened between countries. With each country and each block looking after its own interests, the global warming concept and the marketing of a greener world took a backseat. So why did all the massive marketing for the green concept end in a non commensurate result at Copenhagen?

Firstly, from pure marketing terms, what happens when the product you are marketing doesn't really strike a chord with your target segment, a segment which has enough power to provide you that push or destroy you completely? Simple, your product will fail or it will take an enormous amount of convincing that the product will affect their lives. A similar analogy can be presented here. There is no doubt that if there is going to be a climate deal, the US will have to play a big role. However, given the fact that the President and the US Congress are 2 power centres and the the President not having power to commit anything without the consent of the Congress, it becomes a difficult proposition to envisage a gloabal deal. Moreover, when the US people are not experiencing any climate problems attributed to golbal warming, there is not enough pressure on the government to even think of a deal seriously.

The global warming and the rise in temparature is a simple product which is marketed well to push for carbon emission cuts from the developed and the developing countries. But therein lies a problem of customization. When a company launches a particular product and different sections of the public find different problems with it and ask for appropriate changes which will destroy the core values of the product, the product eventually fails to click and becomes a deadlock. Doesn't it seem so familiar with what happened at Copenhagen? A sharp contrast with Kyoto reveals that countries then were negotiating their stand properly and saw a common path that they could tread on. However, at Copenhagen, no country was ready to listen and there was more or less one way communication. The Green concept never really emerged in all the secondary politics and vested interests. The product eventually failed for the time being.

There is always a conflict between the short term and long term. A similar thing can be said about the price. There were always huge costs to be involved when discussing a situation such as global warming and carbon emission cuts. Rich countries had to decide between the costs of technology transfer and the long term emission cuts. They invariably went for the former as illustrated in the Kyoto Protocol. However, what the world needs to learn is that thinking about the long term is crucial now. Burdening the future generations with the faults of the present one would be catastrophic and irreversible. Countries such as the US who have thought only about the short term benefits and losses as far as climate change is concerned need to seriously do a rethink as future climate changes can severely hamper economic performace of each of its trading partners.

To conclude, one needs to hope that better sense and a concerted global effort prevails at the next summit in Mexico. Although the colour green is associated with slow paced and decsion averse personality, one needs quick results at the next summit. The green marketing is not only a campaign, its a value proposition which cannot be ignored, a product which cannot be allowed to fail else the price which we and the future would encurr would be massive. Let us be good sons of the country, Lets be good marketers, lets fight Global warming.

3 months from Home!

Hello people,
It's been a long time since I wrote an article on my blog. 3 months to be precise. My last post was regarding the time spent in Engineering and about the few days before life in IIM. When I write this article today, 3 months later, I am engulfed in the vicious circle which has managed to capture everyone's eye. I am done with 1/6th of my MBA at one of the premiere (if not the best) institutes in India, IIM Calcutta.
It was difficult in the first few days. The weather was unbearable. I had never experienced so much heat in Mumbai. not a good start with the weather. To add to that, I had stomach aches, cold, cough, fever (No swine flu, thank God). Moreover, it was the first time I would be away from home for studies. So it was a bit difficult with my parents leaving for Mumbai.
But life became more brighter with each passing day. I initially had the view that life in IIM's would be very cut throat with colleagues behaving like total strangers, not helping each other out. This is a perfect example of why seeing is believing. Things went very smooth here. Each and every person here had and has been very helpful. The faculty has lived upto its reputation and has been awesome. Life in IIM's has been interspersed with very hectic days and days where you can relax and explore the streets of kolkata.
1st terms has got over and the second has already begun. I go to the land of everyone's dreams, my city, Mumbai this friday for a relaxation of 10 days. So, my friend, after a good long but enjoyable 1st term at IIM Calcutta, it's time to rock and roll in Aamchi Mumbai. Cya then.

Back to the Summer of 2009

Hello to one and all. As I write this article, I embark on my next voyage which is to sail through a 2 year rock and roll course of MBA at IIM Calcutta. But you know what, the excitement of going to IIM C has been totally engulfed by the sadness at leaving DJ Sanghvi, more specifically, the batch of 2005-09. This is the one reason I wish I could always go back to the summer of 2009, pretty much the defining moments of the batch.

I can say for sure that the 4 years of engineering were the best years of my life. I made friends who will remain friends for life. I never felt this way after leaving school( where I spent 10 years) or junior college (where I spent 2 years). The worst thing is I never knew how time flew by these 4 years. It just feels I joined college yesterday.

First year was pretty much a lonely feeling. I used to spend my time just studying. You would laugh at this if you saw me now. Second year was a period when the bonding and gelling actually started. The concept of 'Shiv Shiv Shiv' took place in this year. I am really going to miss this in life. Third year was a time when there were a lot of group work to be done such as Skits and presentations, mini projects. This was the time we really kicked off on the friendship. Add to this the Silvassa trip which projected us in 7th heaven, even though it was for 2 days. Fourth year, more specifically 7th sem went in preparation for CAT and GRE. The summer of 2009 i.e. the 8th sem really saw everyone reaching their hearts out to one and all. The GOA trip was the perfect finish to the 4 years of engineering. The trip exposed the true characters of quite a few people and it was great to see this. The awards ceremony, traditional day, mismatch day and the farewell all added a whole new dimension of colour to the life of every student in this batch.

It would be difficult to give each and every detail in this article as there were many. They say a picture speaks a thousand words and I believe we have quite a good collection of pictures and videos right from the second year. When I, or for that matter, anyone in the batch of 0509, will look back at this, we will have a heavy heart. All the people who went into MS will think of creating a time machine and the MBA graduates will think of funding this machine to go back as soon as possible to the summer of 2009.