President O-bow-ma

Surfing through the multiple websites I was quite intrigued by the comments and emotions people have poured in after seeing President Obama bowed to greet Japan's Emperor Akihito over the weekend.

There were various comments some , like "Obama's world apology tours", "I wish are first black president had been a rapper at least he’d have some attitude…" , "Obama wasn't bowing - he thought he saw a one yen coin on the floor and bent over to pick it up, because it's worth more than the U.S. dollar now "

Now as to why make such a fuss about a simple greeting, yes it was not done in a proper way "Obama stuck out his hand for a shake. Which was fine. He then proceeded to simultaneously bow. Which was not. And take his eyes off the person he's greeting. Which was not. And then the worst, the over-enthusiastic president of the United States bowed way down at a 45-degree angle", but why there is so much discussion ?

The simple answer which i can think of is, that President Obama is a "BRAND". Yes Obama is a brand, perhaps a brand which all the americans associate to, in their mind President Obama represent America and in turn Americans .

But "bowing" is not an american value, this is not what we associate Americans with.

In Consumer Behaviour terms , when customers see the brand which they use representing the values they do not have/ preffer / ask for there is a dissonance and that perhaps that explains all the analysis and the nasty comments :)

Low Consumer Demand the Biggest Threat to Growth : McKinsey

McKinsey recently released its global survey results on Economic Conditions for Nov 2009. The key highlights of this reports are

1) Lower consumer demand is perceived to be the biggest threat to growth of the country.

2) Majority of the respondent of this survey had responded that the economic scenario is much better than that of the last month.

3) The respondents of the Asian countries were more optimistic than their European counterparts

Read the full report here

High Involvement product purchased based on Mobile phone advertisements : Since When ??

Traditionally products involving high involvements are generally purchased after due diligence, but today I read this article on ET ( Most Indians buy cars based on mobile phone advertisements ) and was not entirely convinced by the title of the article.

I recently purchased a car and I do not remember relying on advertisements on my mobile phone or relying on any telle-caller's advice to select a car. The investment was made after multiple website visits, feature comparisons across brands across companies. Which was then followed by the test drive and finally the choice was made. Therefore I am skeptical of the fact that mobile phone advertisement actually contributed to the 30% of sales.

I am not trying to lower down the value of the Mobile phones/ Handheld devices in the field of marketing, In fact I am a firm believer that the next revolution in the science of marketing will come from these handheld devices. The ability to personalize and deliver the product/ services message exactly to the intended audience in a way that he can understand and relate to, really excites me, but will it affect 30% of the sales only time can tell