Blog@GraceJunction

It’s official! India has added one more dubious distinction to its “shining” cap. In a study conducted by National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) where they compiled data from 22 countries which included Australia, Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Japan, Canada, England and Wales, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand and Srilanka, India has been declared as the ‘murder capital’ of the world!

According to the NCRB report, in 2007 – 08, there were 32,719 incidents of murder recorded in India, which is three times more than its neighbor Pakistan and double the figures in the United States.

Did it catch us by surprise? I don’t think so. The media is peppered with news of gruesome murders every single day. Grover, Aarushi cases are still fresh in our minds. Many other cases go unnoticed. As per the study, India witnessed an average of 90 murders per day! This means that as every hour passes, around four people are murdered in India! A very high number by any standards! (more…)

In my office, my colleagues always find me reading during break time and sometimes even during the day. I am known in my office as a good reader. Sometimes I have good deliberations with my colleagues on reading, and some of them appreciate my habit.

A few days back, when we were discussing on one of the books, one of my colleagues who liked my reading habit, expressed that she herself was not interested much in reading. She would read only when she had to do some documentation at the office. That was her normal reading. She then proceeded to advise me to be practical than being just a reader. (more…)

The economy is troubled. The US Fed has cut interest rate by another 25bp to 2%. Markets worldwide are worried by this trend. Prices of food and gas are rising. But a growing population is almost oblivious to these realities.

They are looking forward to the release of “Grand Theft Auto IV”, a fourth generation videogame release of ‘Grand Theft Auto’ series, known to have sold 70 million copies since its launch in 1997! And GTA 4 is expected to be the biggest videogame debuts ever. I know this is news to many of us! But the videogame market is excited, as it has countered the general negative economic trend of the US and infact the industry has registered a 63% growth in softwares and 46% in equipments! I mean, salary or not, increment or not, let’s game! (more…)

The Times Group had outclassed rivals at the Abby Nite in Mumbai— powered by a brilliant ad campaign done by Grey Worldwide, centered around saving the girl child, which appeared in The Times of India, Ahmedabad edition, in October-November 2006. With five golds and one silver, the ‘Jaago Gujarat’ campaign was a clear winner in the category of Public Service Advertising at the Ad Club of Mumbai’s 40th Abby Awards function at Royal Turf Club.

The Times of India, Ahmedabad edition’s ‘Jaago Gujarat-Save the Girl Child’ campaign, one of the most successful and long-running examples of positive activism for a social cause, also swept the UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2006-07. In the western region awards, TOI-Ahmedabad won the award for the “Best Campaign on the issue of Sex Selection by a Media Group.” Special correspondent Radha Sharma, who spearheaded the campaign, bagged the award for best reporting in the category of ‘News Features-Print Media in English Newspapers’. Advertising agency Grey Worldwide bagged an award for the ‘Best Public Service Advertisement in Print’ for the advertisement campaign around the girl child issue in TOI-Ahmedabad.

Some campaign! Everyone bagged something or the other! (more…)

India’s biggest fast moving consumer goods brand at street price, or in retail value, may no longer be a dairy product, but surprisingly liquor. United Spirits Ltd’s flagship McDowell’s has an estimated retail value of around 950 million pounds ($ 1.9 billion) edging past GCMMF’s Amul milk products with an estimated retail value of $ 1.5 billion. Although the debate is whether liquor can be considered as an FMCG product, AC Nielsen survey which is considered as the official data publishers for the FMCG business does not consider liquor as a product, but the industry is arguing that the same should be considered as a product looking at the fact that the product has a very similar distribution play compared to the FMCG products.

Well my take on the matter is, when the consumer has given his verdict that liquor is more ‘fast moving than milk’ then there should be no doubt whether to consider liquor as a fast moving consumer good. (more…)