Fashion

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If you thought the fashion world was just about ramp shows, anorexic models and tell-all movies, you’re obviously a jurassic-era relic; fashion rocks for business like nobody’s business!!!

‘The Devil Wears Prada’ was a delightful novel and an interesting film to watch too. It was the story of a young woman, a naive graduate who is hired to work as the second assistant to the powerful editor of a fashion magazine called Runway. The editor, Miranda Priestly (played by Meryl Streep), is ruthless, merciless and tough-as-nails. The young girl, Andrea Sachs (played by Ann Hathaway), does what it takes to please her boss. She changes her lifestyle, dressing style, loses weight, changes her attitude, her behaviour... everything! Till, in the end, she realises that life is made up of choices and she can choose a different life too. It’s widely reported that the book (and later the movie) was a thinly veiled true life story of Anna Wintour, the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue and was written by her former personal assistant at Vogue, Lauren Weisberger. This is not the first time that a character in a movie is based on her. In Ugly Betty and Prêt-à-Porter (a 1994 film), there were characters based on her. Some even claim that Johnny Depp’s look in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory were based on Anna Wintour!

The woman is powerful. She brought back Vogue from near obscurity to the helm of the fashion world. She is today as much an institution as the magazine itself. She creates and cripples trends. She is the most powerful face of fashion. When she wears a particular designer’s clothes, it means something. When her magazine features a designer’s collection, it catapults them into the limelight. She is powerful, influential and revered. While the rest of the industry suffers in a weak newsstand market, Wintor’s Vogue enjoyed an upswing of single copy sales, rising 4.6 percent in 2007. Her magazine has a circulation of 1.3 million; and in 2006, under her, the Vogue family of magazines generated $500 million in advertising revenues. If you need to learn about the business of fashion, you need to just watch Ms. Wintour. She maybe a devil... She may or may not wear Prada... But she knows the world of fashion and controls it within her well-manicured hands; and in today’s time, it’s important to understand this business.

It’s time to dress-up for business

Fashion is big business today. Fashion has become global and every country is using this opportunity to unleash its creativity and its unique cultural aspects. China is using fashion to show to the world that it’s not just a source of cheap labour. Fashion is now the new way to relate to and compete with other countries. The best way of showcasing fashion of a country is through a ‘Fashion Week’. A fairly exhaustive survey revealed that there are today about 152 Fashion Weeks being held all over the world, from Pakistan to Milan, from Fiji to Liberia. It’s always some or the other Fashion Week somewhere in the world.

There’s more to fashion weeks than lissome models, skin shows, wardrobe malfunctions and anorexia. It’s a place for some serious business too. Wills, the main sponsor for the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion (WLIF) has seen that its sales have grown by 30 percent after its association with the event. After being associated with the event, it introduced a designer line in its stores, which now accounts for 15% of its sales.

In India, everyone knows that two things will always work – cricket and films; but today, it’s become very, very expensive to be associated with either of them. The third option, which is not yet so expensive, is fashion. So, last year when Nokia had to launch its new mobile phone called the Prism collection, it did so with a show by designer Rocky S. Nokia’s GPS enabled N82 handset was launched in association with Wallpaper, the iconic international design, fashion and lifestyle magazine. The campaign featured Wallpaper fashion editors equipped with the new handset and sharing their experience of what it’s like to be in the fashion capitals at show time.

It’s no more the elite fashion crowd that’s associated with fashion and fashion weeks. The New York Fashion Week this time saw the likes of OfficeMax, Blackberry, & Google as sponsors and front row guests at the shows. If, till recently, those were influential editors like Anna Wintors who decided the course of events, today they share the limelight with financial executives, investors and bankers, who play a big role in shaping up brands.

Fashion Weeks are big business for not just the fashion houses and fashion magazines but also for their organisers. IMG was started years ago by McCormack as a sports management company and he soon become the most powerful man in sports. Today, his company is one of the global leaders in the management and production of fashion weeks. It owns and operates most of the world’s important fashion events – from Lakme Fashion Week (of Mumbai) to Mercedes-Benz Fashion week (of New York & L.A).

In 2006, IMG bought the Australian Fashion Week too for $2 million and also entered into a $1.25 million five-year partnership with Australia’s Ministry for Tourism, Sports and Recreation. It’s no more just designers who are shaping the world of fashion, but some serious business people, and even the governments of certain countries.

Corporatisation of fashion

The world over and in India too, the fashion fraternity is realising that it cannot do without the active participation of corporates. So, FDCI (Fashion Design Council of India) has increased the space devoted to Business Centres and given them more than 100 stalls in the Fashion Week. It’s also helping in designer-corporate tie-ups. Fashion Weeks provide an opportunity to attract venture capitalist to the fashion industry. Without this, growth is not possible. After all, fashion is not just about skimpy clothes and glamour models. It needs professionalism. Plain talent can take you a certain distance, but well-managed talent is what makes one successful.

So, today Rohit Bal etc. have professionals running their companies. While in the west, big fashion companies are listed on stock exchanges too. According to KPMG, the designer-wear fashion industry in India is estimated to grow to Rs.10 billion by 2010. Indian fashion industry is miniscule compared to international standards but it has a strong potential for growth. Corporates should find ways to derive mileage from this industry.

As you watch in awe the stunning Kangana Raut in Madhur Bhandarkar’s latest film Fashion and as you smile and cry with Priyanka Chopra and realise how cold, harsh and ruthless this world is, don’t forget this is one industry whose glamour has the world glued to it. When you plan your next marketing campaign, see how you can associate with and profit from this magical world of fashion.

44 days that shook the world of cricket

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When push comes to shove and the jaw meets the glove, what wins is what sells – a ruthlessly honest commentary on why IPL rocked... and ICL shocked!

20th February 2008! 78 of the world’s best cricketers passed under the gavel of Richard Madley, an English auctioneer. It was a day that changed cricket forever. According to a BBC correspondent, the day was more frantic than the day Britain decided to go to war in Iraq. Eight teams were created and eight owners emerged in whose hands now laid the future of cricket. As for the cricketers, they earned a dream job. Consider Mahendra Singh Dhoni; he earned £7,50,000! Not bad for 44 days of work. Yes, when IPL (Indian Premier League) was launched a few months back, no one realised that history was once again being created. A similar thing had happened years ago in 1977 in Australia. The Australian media magnate Kerry Packer introduced the world to a different kind of cricket. He replaced the revered white cricket clothing with coloured ones. Test series were replaced with ODIs (One Day International). Cricket’s ruling body mocked at it and called it “pyjama” cricket – but this new form of day-night cricket, played under lights and with coloured clothing, became the biggest hit and one of the most successful forms of the game.

There’s more to cricket than cricket

Kerry Packer was refused the rights to an exclusive television coverage. And his grudge resulted in the new break-away ODI cricket. Subhash Chandra of Zee Network tried to do something similar last year when he introduced the Indian Cricket League. “Where dreams can come alive” was the way ICL promoted itself. Kapil Dev was the face of the campaign, its brand ambassador. ICL stood for recognising individual talent. It was a place where a journey from a village to a cricket stadium was possible and Kapil Dev suited the role best, and the punch line was ‘sapne manzil tak’. However, its glory was short lived for the “sapne” of ICL could not reach their “manzil” as it had to face the might of IPL, the “manoranjan ka baap”. Yes, that was the title of the 75 second commercial that was made to launch IPL; and ICL found itself clean-bowled even before it started.

Cricket is the lifeline of Indians. There is hardly any other nation where the game generates such frenzy, such hype. If Kerry Packer changed the game, then IPL took it to dizzying heights. In India, cricket is not just a game, it’s a form of entertainment and IPL has shown what you can do with cricket. If reality shows are a big hit with audiences in India, then IPL showed how cricket was the “baap” of all reality shows. Cricket today is one of the ‘buzziest’ properties on television and IPL tops that chart. Not just did they have sponsors lined up, but they were ready to go to any length to derive the maximum mileage from the event. So not just did they indulge in high-voltage brand building exercises, they were also ready to pay more than Rs.7 crores to Sony Entertainment Television (SET) to prevent their rivals from advertising during the matches. Remember in the 1996 World Cup, though Coca-Cola was the official sponsor, it was Pepsi that stole the limelight with its cheeky “Nothing Official About It” campaign. This time around, advertisers didn’t want to be “ambushed” and used the “roadblock” strategy to keep competition at bay.

So Vodafone Essar Ltd. and Hyundai Motors India signed deals that gave them “exclusivity” and kept their competitors out. Vodafone was the presenting sponsor and this way, it ensured its biggest rival Airtel remained away.

When a product is packaged well and is guaranteed to grab eyeballs, marketers can do wonders with it. IPL was a marketer’s delight while ICL – though the first to enter the market of Twenty 20 – faded in comparison. Not surprising that though both formats IPL and ICL were/are similar, IPL scored more. A Twenty-20 format is shorter, more action packed; and IPL marketed it like a blockbuster movie. So every evening people had something exciting to look forward to. Not just the cricketers and the audience, but advertisers and ad agencies too benefited a lot from these games. BCCI, Sony and the eight teams together spent about Rs.160 crores on promoting IPL. The ad agencies had a field day! Not just the WSG, the sports marketing company that holds the global rights for IPL has committed to spending around Rs.450 crores on promoting the IPL brand over the next 10 years.

IPL was a case of a product packaged and marketed well. It had glitz-and-glamour with the top Bollywood stars and corporate honchos stepping in as owners of the six teams. It had high-decible advertisements. It had the world’s best cricket players playing. Not surprising then that ad rates escalated from Rs.2 Lakh per 10 seconds to Rs.10 Lakh for the semi-finals and finals of the matches. Not just this, according to “aMap” ratings, IPL managed an average television rating (TVR) of 4-5 while the TVRs of the small box’s popular K-serials – Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki and Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi – are 5 and 5.5. In fact, the first IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers registered a TVR of 8.75 in Mumbai! Why not... It had Shahrukh rooting for his team, surrounded by the big Bollywood stars who came to support Shahrukh. The event was more Star-studded than a Filmfare Awards night probably, not to forget the cheerleaders! India had never seen anything like this before and lapped up every iota of the event.

With IPL, the advertising industry got another major contributor to its total advertising pie - a total net addition of Rs.300 crores.

ICL could not keep up with Shahrukh’s wits and Preity Zinta’s dimpled smiles and hugs for Yuvraj and her team’s players! It tried to work up the same magic with Rakhi Sawant, but could not generate the same excitement. Its 10 second spots this time reportedly went for as low as Rs.60,000-70,000. And its TVR had an average of 0.3. Its ad punchline, “Cricket hain meri life” was unable to hold the interest of the viewers for long. Somehow, ICL could not garner the charm of IPL. Today, IPL is looked at as ‘Premium Property’, while ICL is a ‘Budget Buy’. Somewhere, the packaging failed for ICL.

The good, the bad, the ugly

It’s said that the BCCI showed its ugly side when ICL was launched. Till then, it was a monopoly, and with ICL, its position was threatened, so it showed its might. It issued guidelines warning players that anyone who joined ICL would be banned for life. It refused ICL to use any grounds used by it to play the matches. Too top it, ICL decided to telecast its matches (of season 1) on Zee Sports, which had hardly any reach and advertisers didn’t like it; so ICL landed up with no cricketers, no stadiums and no advertisers.

You may say BCCI played dirty, but as it is said, everything is fair in love and war. After all, to IPL’s Rs.160 crores ad budget, ICL had Rs.20 crores; to IPL’s 78 international players, ICL had just 10; to IPL’s Shahrukh and Preity Inc., ICL had Rakhi Sawant & Co. Who would win - you decide. Fair or unfair, BCCI has pulled it off and made a big brand out of IPL. In the end, it’s the thing that sells which wins and IPL has given us those exciting 44 days that shook the world of cricket forever!

Death of nine to five

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The way we will make our employees work in the future will radically change; and those companies that understand this and adapt the fastest will survive. If your best employees have to be retained and motivated, then perish the thought of the 9-to-5 worker!

A survey done in UK recently revealed some interesting facts. When asked where they would prefer to work, some 15% of the respondents said they preferred to work from their garden – especially when it’s sunny!! That’s an interesting dimension. Today, the definition of work, of work place, of work culture, has changed. Not just this, today’s workforce has started to think differently, especially the younger lot. Their opinions about work, and work life are radically different from the older lot. According to an online survey conducted by Nielson, maintaining work-life balance is the biggest concern for 20 percent of Indians. Our economy is doing good as compared to the past, hence a plethora of opportunities have opened up for Indians. They have more choices today, and salaries are better as well. However, all this doesn’t come free; it demands long hours, which seem to be taking their toll. Like every emerging market, Indians too are faced with the work-life balance dilemma. Being emotional people, we worry about the happiness of our parents at home, unlike Americans who worry more about their post-retirement plans, the state of the economy, or Europeans who worry more about global warming. So our demands from the workplace are changing too; and as a result, companies are changing also to accommodate the changing preferences.

Flexi-time, flexi-location:

In Fortune magazine’s survey of the ‘100 Best US Companies’, 79 allowed their employees to work from home at least 20 percent of their time. Various new concepts have emerged like ‘teleworking’, flexi-working, part-time working – each meaning different things. Teleworking means working from an alternative work place – either home or a satellite office i.e. an office away from actual work place. So some days they work from the main, central office; and on other days, from an alternate one. Literally, teleworking means “working at a distance.” Flexi-working is having flexible timings, while part-time – as the word says – means working part of the day. These are the new trends catching up.

These trends are fast catching up in India too as our working population gets conscious about lifestyles and family time etc. Today, Cognizant Technology Solution is encouraging its employees to work from home at least one day in a week. In the future i.e. by the year 2020, they aim to make 20 percent of their workforce work from home. Cisco, a computer networking company, says that out of a total of 60,000 employees, about 12,000 telework. Wipro too wants a third of its employees to work from home in the future. In fact, it’s Godrej in India that pioneered the concept of ‘flexi-time’ years ago. They felt it was good for their female employees to cope better with work and stress. Some feel this even results in increased productivity. What’s interesting is that there’s much more to it than just making employees happy.

Flexi-time to improve balance sheets:

Be it flexi-time or teleworking, these have become tools to help companies spruce-up their balance sheets. They are not just keeping employees happy but helping the company reduce costs as well.

The Department of Telecommunication announced recently the concept of “Home Agents”. Through this system, BPO employees can log into their call centre systems and start operating from anywhere. These work-from-anywhere BPO agents will not only make their lives easier but will save the company huge costs. The company would now be able to save on electricity costs, transportation costs, and employee seating costs too. Not just this, with space requirement reducing, companies would save on real-estate costs too – which is a big saving. So, with this, operational costs and fixed costs both get reduced.

Encouraged by these facts, Governor John Baldacci of Maine has introduced flexible schedules, telecommuting and a four-day work week for his government employees. His mission – to help each employee save on fuel costs and in turn help the state cut its overall energy usage. That is a big bonus – happy employees and happy employer.

With the sub-prime crisis of the US and a slowing of the world economy, companies today need to have a firm hand in dealing with costs. Traditionally, the ways to deal with a slowdown were – decrease in increments, decrease in hiring of new employees, making deadlines more strict and so on. However, today employers are realising these may not be the best ways to reduce costs. The Silicon Valley bust in US gave birth to the concepts of flexi-time and working from home, which have proved to be efficient methods of reducing costs.

Intelligent organisations are slowly but surely adopting unique ways of working and changing their organisations. Workforce planning is today the most integral part of any business plan. Plan to cut down costs slowly and systematically before one day suddenly you realise that a large scale lay-off is the only way to save the company.

Helping you save the best

Employees are your greatest asset and if you have to let them go because of an economic slowdown and escalating costs, that’s the saddest thing. According to yet another study, average salary projections for 2009 are lower than the current year. How do you keep your best people? Not just retaining them, how do you keep them motivated and happy?

This is your chance to help them strike a lovely work/life balance. Flexi hours and teleworking are ideas that have been tried and tested and are proven to work. Contrary to popular belief, they increase productivity & the happiness quotient of employees.

Moreover, with technological advancements and the growth of wireless technologies, it has become all the more easier to implement these new ideas. When Steve Jobs launched the iPhone, he probably did not realise then that this fashionable gadget would help the world fight its biggest economic slowdown due to subprime crisis. Yes, wi-fis, iPhones, affordable laptops et al are giving people the flexibility of working from anywhere. The way we will work in the future is going to be very different and the company that adapts itself the fastest will survive. The employees of the future will live differently and work differently. Remember, the future will have no place for the traditional ways of working. It’s time we realise this and accept the death of the nine-to-five workday.

THE ART OF CARING

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People are the most precious asset of a company and are constantly stalked and hunted out by the competitors. So, how do you stop this poaching?

The biggest excitement for young recruits at Ernst & Young is probably their annual trip to the Walt Disney World and not their bonuses. In fact, in the past three years, E&Y’s average salary hasn’t increased substantially – yet, when it comes to voting for the ‘Best Places to Launch a Career’, the firm scored the highest points.

When Marriott International went on its recruiting spree, it did not need to show big bucks to attract the best talent from the campuses. It was the job profile, which did wonders. The best student from University of Delaware joined Marriott in spite of being offered higher packages from other firms, because here she was promised a chance to help run the hotel. In fact, rejecting higher salaries in favour of offers with better benefits and perks is nothing new.

The toughest job for an HR professional is not just getting the best talent, but also retaining it. Southwest Airlines seems to be one company that is doing this the best. It receives a minimum of 1,00,000 job applications every year and according to its Director of Public Relations, Ed Stewart, “People leaving is virtually non-existent.” Not surprising then, that Southwest is ranked 2nd in Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For (The first being Container Store, a small company employing only 1200 people). As someone correctly said, “My most valuable assets go home everyday.” It’s not your world class infrastructure or state-of-the-art facilities, but people who are the most precious to an organisation; and it’s these great workers, these trophies that are constantly stalked & hunted by the competitors. So, how do you stop this poaching?

A man does not live by bread alone

Gone are the days when a large bonus at the end of the year kept one motivated to work year long. It’s the era of year-round perks; just good salaries is not enough.

So Google gives free breakfast, lunch and dinner to its employees. Free M&M’s are available in dispensers around the building; you could grab a handful as you walk around. Southwest found giving free airfare worked best for it as employees felt they could connect better with their families. As a result, people love to work in these places.

Perks contribute to loyalty and employee retention. However, giving perks is not easy – it requires a deep understanding of your employees. Perks actually reflect the true sincerity of the top management.

Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam (BRPNN) has turned around its image totally. Today it has a state-of-art gymnasium, gives paid vacations to foreign countries to its employees, organises motivational lecturers. The sense of belonging among its employees has increased like never before. Thanks to its dynamic chairman Pratyaya Amrit, today, this once ailing government company is throbbing with life and its people & the state are benefiting from its makeover.

It’s not just work, but building camaraderie that’s more important toady. If Google has put up in-house games, then Rodas and Ecohotel in India too organise sports competitions for their employees. Satyam has announced the launch of satyamstarpower.com a few months back. It’s a portal designed to showcase the creative talent of its employees. Fun@Work is the new initiative and helps workers de-stress and work better. Bob Nelson, the author of ‘1001 Ways to Reward Employees’, says showering employees with cash never works, but it’s the little things that count. A pat on the back, a surprise. One employee recalls how her boss hired a chauffeured limousine to drive her to an elegant restaurant – a way to thank her for completing her project on time. She may not remember the cash benefits but this little gesture that hardly cost anything was unforgettable.

A nine to five job, even if high paying, can get boring and that’s when perks can ‘perk’ one up. The owner of K.T. Kitchen, a California based maker of frozen pizza, found an inexpensive but fun filled way to thank her overworked staff for wining a multi-million dollar grocery account – she booked a nearby go-kart track and everyone went go-karting.

Mind Tree Consulting has a ‘Baby’s Day Out,’ where once a week, women employees get to bring their children and maids along with them to office. Perks work better than cash incentives, because they give employees an experience to recount, to savour.

The psychology of perks

Google is the most admired company of today’s times. Its “perk-crazy” founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have done what it takes to create a lovely stress-free atmosphere for their employees. Out here, it’s ok to get your dog to work, it’s ok to go to the Lego room and de-stress by building blocks. Yet, it’s reported that employees cried at Google this summer. According to the New York Times, Google Inc. decided to upgrade its infant care and raised the prices from $1,425 a month to $2,500. It was a ‘rare’ fumble made by Google, a company most admired and known for charming the press and people alike.

A ‘perk’ has its advantages sure. Like a movie-day once a month, a sky-diving trip, a concierge service that shall pick up your dry cleaning, take your pet to the vet and even get your car fixed – are all wonderful, but once you have a perk, to take it away is like a break of promise. It can lead to anger and lower levels of motivation among employees. The management needs to explain clearly and logically why this was done, for the retaliation is more psychological, with workers feeling low and not giving their utmost. If the benefits are huge, so are the negatives that come with its withdrawal. Perks need to be introduced intelligently and after studying the work environment and culture. When RBZ saw most of its employees leaving the company to join internet companies, it started offering two months paid leave to every worker who completed six years in the organization. Its attrition reduced to fewer than 5%. Motivated by the huge benefit of perks and their power to increase productivity, a company decided to give its staff 30 minutes off after lunch so they could go for walks. No one was impressed! Now the ‘business of perks’ is in itself a big business with people making a living out of advising clients how to manage perks. Companies like Perk.com, OC Tanner, Loyaltyworks tell business houses how to make their employees feel special and how to design the right perks. After all, good salary is mundane; it’s the perks and special incentives that make the employees feel special; and once given, no one wants to give them up. In an interesting survey done by MSN Environment, 80% employees wanted their business to improve its energy efficiency; yet, none was willing to give up their perks such as free taxi-rides to contribute to the cause.

Companies are today working harder to find innovative ways to attract, retain and motivate their employees. From car allowances, to group term life insurance, to free neck-massages on your desk, to psychiatric counseling to help people fight stress, to discount coupons at select stores, they are doing it all. Just a word of caution though… Remember, a perk, however good, can never be a replacement for human interaction. Probably the best perk is that timely pat on the back or just a simple note, ‘You did a good job’. Treat your employees like family and like family they will love you back The definition of work has changed today, and a good employer is one who understands the art of caring.