THAT'S THE WAY YOU DO IT !.......BUSINESSWEEK REINVENTED

Every time some corporate soothsayer spells doom for magazines, there will be few crusaders who will decide to hold the bull by the horns and do something remarkable to turn the tables. President Paul Bascobert and Editor Josh Tyrangiel of Bloomberg Businessweek are two such gentlemen, who are out on a mission to redefine the rules of business journalism. Seeing is believing they say, pick up the latest copy of Bloomberg Businessweek and you'll understand what I mean. There's something special going on in there......... inside the editorial camp.

According to Josh, a man who understands web like back of his hand ( earlier stint was with TIME.COM), "web is only good for grazing and where magazines have got it wrong in the recent past is in their approach of doing tiny short webby stories and headlines. They have completely forgotten the fact that when a reader decides to open the magazine, he actually wants to shut out the rest of the world ".

The truth is, every time a reader picks up a business magazine he is looking for more than a grazing exprience, he is looking for some guidance, some handholding. Come Monday, start of a gruelling week, he is looking for news and analysis that he can use. And once inside the conference room, he wants to base his views on credible, hardcore facts and industry opinions. In a nutshell he wants to stay ahead and make informed decisions.

Rich content seems so hard to come by these days. Look at the state of business magazines in India, since both readership and circulation figures have taken a nose dive, correspondingly the pictures have got bigger, the font size of the text matter magnified many fold and the stories have become shorter and shorter inside the magazine. Now that's an extremely dangerous thing the editors and publishers are busy doing these days.

Let's hope Bloomberg Businessweek brings in a whiff of fresh air, which is so badly needed.Looking at the first Issue, Josh and team seem to have made a great start.

VIVA MAGAZINES !!

COVERED WELL !!

Reader behaviour has under gone a massive change in the last decade or so . The prime reason for this shift is technology and of late economic challenges all over the world. Publishers of Magazines are really up against it in most of the markets. They are finding it tough to arrest the dwindling readership figures year on year. Well, this doesn't mean that it's Armageddon for the printed word just yet.

Even in this chaos there's a sliver lining , some fabulous magazines are quietly championing the cause of print and are engaging the readers like never before. They are thrusting forward full steam and are busy defying the odds.......and winning. They continue to enjoy the patronage of readers around the world. The Economist to my mind is one such revered title which has braved the downturn. People who are familiar with the title are aware of it's credibility and the top notch editorial standards. This great magazine claims "it's not a chronicle of economics, rather it strives to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress" .

The spark for this post came from one of the latest covers of The Economist. I just couldn't resist myself from talking about it. Every Issue of The Economist has a very interesting cover..... the copy, the picture, everything is so different about the magazine. Well, I think what distinguishes The Economist and the rest of the pack, is the belief that everything that you do within and outside of the magazine is important. Though the most pivotal thing is what lies between the covers, the rich credible content .....BUT EQUALLY PARAMOUNT IS THE WAY YOU PRESENT IT, PACKAGE IT.........YOU GOT TO COVER IT WELL! Whatever you do, do it with a panache !!

FROM THE CORPORATE DIARY......BITTER N SWEET TALE OF MONEY

Salary negotiation I am told is an art rather than a science. The rigmarole of a tough negotiation can be quite rattling at times. Some people are too good at it and they are able to do it with great elan. And then on the other side, there are few who simply hate it. Not that they aren't capable, it just that beyond a point they find the process to bitter to swallow.

One thing that has always posed a question mark in my mind, and something that I haven't been able to fathom till date, is the exact role of Human Resource guys in the negotiation chain. Are they the right people to measure the worth of hard core experience? Should they have the final say? Are they professional and experienced enough to separate the wheat from the chaff? I really wonder, seriously I do.

I am sure there is a way out. I also firmly believe that many a times, deserving candidates run out of patience and give up the chase.And it's rather unfortunate that in the end the HR view of " My way, or the highway" prevails and the organisation loses out on an opportunity to draft somebody who could have been an excellent choice. THINK ABOUT IT ? I am sure quite a few of my experienced friends out there, at some point might have been at the receiving end of this so called, high handed approach( "I know what you are worth " P.O.V).

IT AIN'T JUST ANOTHER BOOK........IT'S A SLANT BOOK

It feels great when you see things being done differently. Doesn't it ? At least I do. I love when people talk about new ideas, wanting to break stereotype and embark on a completely new thinking. I have always believed there's no dearth of people with money, but what is really in short supply are people with ideas, new ideas, innovative ideas.

During a quick stroll after lunch in the afternoon today, I happen to hop into a book store and laid my hands on a rather odd shaped book called THE SLANT BOOK by Peter Newell. It's a picture book published in 1910, filled with rhyming poetry telling story of all the mishaps that can occur when things are on a slant.

I am sure one might wonder, what's so special about a children's book, published 100 years back? A book very few have heard and seen, one which never made it to the top 100 bestsellers list of all times.So what am I really talking here?

Well, for the curious minds, all I can say is, it's neither the title of the book nor the author that has given the spark for this post. In fact it's the beautiful amalgamation, of the core idea SLANT and the choice of the SLANT sized book to narrate the story to young impressionable minds.

Today, due to advent of Internet, the printed word is facing a real challenge. And if the authors, the editors, the publishers of books, periodicals and magazines around the world continue to turn a blind eye and fail to innovate, the future could be full of mishaps. It's time they wake-up and realise that things are on a slant. And they need to innovate like Peter Newell and his publisher did with THE SLANT BOOK.

YES, IT'S NOT JUST ANOTHER BOOK..........IT'S A SLANT BOOK.

UTTERLY BUTTERLY DELICIOUS !!

Sorry no marks for guessing. We all know it's Amul.... An Iconic Brand, a true lovemark( please visit the link at the bottom of the Postcard, to know about the concept of Lovemarks & the guru Kevin Roberts). Coined from Sanskrit word "Amoolya" meaning priceless, Amul is a brand loved by young and grown-ups alike in India. It's a brand that's been used in millions of homes since 1946.

The spark for this post came from the new outdoor advertising message that I saw while driving to the office this morning. And this time the theme for the latest brand communication was based on last week's Volcanic eruption in Iceland. Brilliant I say. Though I don't exactly remember, but it went something like this " FLIGHTS DIS- ERUPTION", NOT TO WORRY........AMUL! YOU'LL SIMPLY LAVA IT ". Coming to the visual, no Amul poster is complete without the famous round eyed, chubby cheeked utterly butterly girl ( Amul Moppet), who was right up there towering over the advertisement copy .

A journey of excellent storytelling about anything that's newsy, from anywhere in the world, that started way back in 1967, is still going strong.................AND I AM SIMPLY LOVING IT.......... ALWAYS HAVE.

http://www.saatchikevin.com/

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST..........PICTURE OF THE MONTH

This breathtaking picture taken by Lucas Jackson of Reuters on April 17, 2010 in Eyjafjallajokull is probably one of the greatest of all times, according to me.

WOW!!!!

EARTH SONG.........HELP HER, SOMEBODY

Can you hear her cry?

Do you feel the pain deep inside?

Can you see the bleeding of her soul?

engulfed in a raging fire, she's been screaming

begging for our mercy, she's been calling.

Alas! No one's coming, she keeps burning
years have come and years have gone
still no one's listening, man keeps plundering
in the name of human progress,
he keeps cutting and spilling.


Can you hear her cry?
Do you feel the pain deep inside?
Can you see the bleeding of her soul?
engulfed in a raging fire, she's been screaming
begging for our mercy, she's been calling..........and calling.
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/168/environmental-issues

FROM THE CORPORATE DIARY.......POSTCARD BY A TOUGHIE, A SURVIVOR

Just in from the Corporate Zoo. Contributed by a martyr who chose to stand alone ....who decided to walk out rather than standing in the long queue of servile flatterers.

BACK IN THE SKY.......BACK IN BUSINESS ...EUROPE RISING FROM THE ASHES

Finally after a weeks misery, Europe's sky is all set to wear blue again.Menacing ash filled clouds are slowly but surely clearing up and everybody seem to be smiling again. It makes a lovely sound when the cash register starts to ring......And Europe can't wait :-)

HAPPY PROFITING EUROPE !!

FROM THE STAR CATCHER'S DIARY.......PICTURE OF THE DAY

Priceless moments, beautiful dreams so many..............

I BRING THEM TO YOU, ONLY TO YOU
THAT'S ALL I HAVE GOT, THAT'S ALL I AM GONNA GIVE
ONLY TO YOU..... ONLY TO YOU.