Bikes, Babes and Beats – That’s Dhoom for you!

This date, that year. Flashback to 27^th August, 2004.

A pepper-mint fresh movie, with a boisterous music score and not really crème-de-la-crème stars opened in India. Simply and aptly titled Dhoom. Coming from the Yashraj stable – the house of big blockbusters – this was an experiment. A quickie-breezy ‘boys’ film with no epic love story at its core. Backed by a peppy soundtrack, the movie opened well. And then the content took over and the movie ended being a major money-spinner!

 

So much, so that today, 8 years down the line, the zingy-zangy Dhoom Machale still evokes excitement. It was amongst the first movie (in Indian cinema) to have a successful sequel. Its third instalment with Aamir Khan as the antagonist has been amongst the most eagerly awaited movie for the past few years (don’t believe? check YouTube for a plethora of fake promos).

Today, 8 years since Dhoom, it’s kind of interesting to revisit this adrenaline-pumping flick. Those were still the early days of multiplexes. There was more to movies than just opening weekends, carpet bombing, deafening promotions and huge stars. Movies, still ran more on content and overall public acceptance, than just hammer-down marketing, sky-high ticket prices or brain-drain comedy. In those times of 3-hour sagas, the super-taut Dhoom wrapped up in 123 minutes flat and left the gasping audience wanting for more! Dhoom was a trend-setter and game-changer in more ways than one. It took the nation by storm and continues to be the most-prized franchisee.

Hence today, on its 8^th anniversary, it’s exciting to revisit the racy adventure that started with the original Dhoom! Here’s re-publishing one of my first movie reviews to celebrate the cult of Dhoom.

Bikes, Babes and Beats – That’s Dhoom for you!

There are a whole lot of movies being churned nowadays that are hardly doing any justice to the reputation of their banners, starcast or directors (Lakshya, Dev, Deewar, Kyun! Ho Gaya Na)….

A few that manage to live up to the expectations (K3G, Main Hoon Na!, Kal Ho Na Ho)

A miniscule few do manage to rise much beyond the expectations (Mujhse Shaadi karogi, Koi Mil Gaya)

And then once in blue moon does comes a movie that not just rises but…….but….simply….EXPLODES!!!!!!! In marketing terms it’s not just about customer satisfaction; it’s also not just about customer delight…….its about customer ECSTACY!!!!!!! 

Any guesses???? Yeah, ye got that right…….its DHOOM time guyz!!!!!! And you better check this one out…..Dhoom Rockkks! 

The beginning and the end numbers itself are a Paisa Vasool in themselves. One of the most stylized movies made in recent times. The excellently choreographed dance sequences, the crisp and taut editing and the split-screen visuals. The USP – Fantabulous bike chasing sequences (Check out for the Abhi-Uday chor bazaar escape, The Uday-John bike racing stuff), the background score, the zingy-zappy sound effects…….Zoooooom!!! 

Dhoom starts off right from the first frame…a lazy Abhi getting seduced by a HOT Rimi…..(It’s the stuff fantasies are made up of!)….and what follows over the next 145 minutes is pure magic. The action never stops, the mood continues to build…and never during the movie do you experience a dull moment…. 

Of the cast:

·         Rimi is a revelation, baby where have you been??? (Methinks you are definitely much more talented than a certain Ms./ Mrs. Sherawat!)

·         Esha….Well try and try till you succeed… there are some who are born with the oomph, and some who keep trying, harder and harder….and harder!!!

·         Great job Uday!!!!! Here’s an earnest actor who certainly has a flair for comedy….a pucca tapori……a perfect foil to a cool n sophisticated Mr. Bachchan!!

·         Bachchan……..ah! Here he comes…..Finally!!!!! Myself, One of the greatest critics of Mr. Abhishek Bachchan…..but sorry you’ve proved me dead wrong. Loc, Yuva and now Dhoom!!! The man has found a rhythm and looks all set for a long innings…. A role which seems tailor-made for him, Abhi is simply Fantastic!!! The cool exchanges with John running right throughout the movie gives the screenplay that extra edge.

·         And finally here comes John…..the man, the looks, the tresses, the physique, the bikes, the aura…. a star is born!!!!! Walking away with one of the most interesting characters in the movie, John personifies the essence of Dhoom. Just check out that wicked smile of his…and you know that there is much more to this guy than Jism.  

 

Dhoom is definitely one of the best movies screened this year. It’s the sheer energy and vibrancy displayed by the entire cast that takes Dhoom many levels above the ordinary….somewhere straight in the orbit!!!! 

This is Himanshu Manroa reporting from Chanakya Cinema, New Delhi. Dhoom looks all set to create a roaring spell on the Delhites…..Hope same’s the effect in Bombay too… 

Just check out the sensuous number by Tata Young as the credit titles roll by at the end…..She gyrates, she sizzles….as no one in the hall dares to move out…..the film has ended. The sexy Dhoom Machale has stopped blaring from the speakers. But the audience still sits there gasping, asking for more.

Very few movies can cast such an effect.

Very few movies can rise above the expectations…..

Very few movies can be labeled as Cult.

Dhoom manages much more than that!!!

As Dhoom Machale track still lingers on in my mind, there is just one word that can sum up the whole experience of Dhoom -

 SPELLBOUND!!

            Go watch it……..Now!!!!!! 

The super-successful Dhoom was followed up 3 years later in November 2006 by a much bigger money-spinner Dhoom 2. The stellar cast of Dhoom 2 ensured a record-breaking opening and was amongst the first successful sequel in the Indian cinema. Click here to know more about Dhoom 2, the second instalment of this blockbuster franchise.

 

Making Conflicts@work, Work!

Making Conflicts@work, Work!

An L&D leader at workplace once asked about various ‘real issues’ that instigate or cause conflicts. This was to add a more practical and real-flavor to an impending ‘Conflict Management’ workshop that he was planning to conduct.

As I sat down to pen my thoughts, I scanned through all the prior experiences where I was either directly involved or witness to conflicts. Conflicts both of the simmering, brewing types and of the warfront types. Conflicts both of the ‘natural and obvious’ category and those that were implanted for vicious reasons.  

 

Conflicts. What made them happen? Could they have been avoided? Some conflicts that left us wounded and bruised. Or was I actually glad about some other conflicts (that they happened)? Conflicts were we fought, debated, deliberated and disagreed but ended up wiser.  

Allow me to walk you through some common conflicts in most dynamic organizations. Definitely not an exhaustive list for sure. However, definitely a list for us to brood over, introspect and be aware about. You never know, one of these conflicts could be lurking round a corner. One of these might actually be operating at a ‘latent’ level around you.

Projects

·         The conflict between a manager and his team, when the manager insists on delivering the project on a particular date, and the team believes that it’s too tight a deadline.

·         It could also be about the scope of a project. The manager feels that the team should definitely work on information areas A, B and also C and D (to delight the client). The team however disagrees and believes that it’s an overkill. “When all that the client wants is information area A and B, why are we even bothered about looking at C and D?”

 

Indiscipline: 

·         Indiscipline happens to be the most common cause of conflict on the floors. A star performer thinks that till the time he is meeting and exceeding his targets, he can get away with anything. He may often feel that being on the calls (on the floor) shouldn’t be a big deal, stepping out for a couple of hours should be fine, tailgating is over-rated, etc. “Am I not meeting my targets? So why all this fuss?” 

Competition/Rivalry:

·         Promotions, shifts/transfers to a different team, secondment or even the possibility of getting preferential shift timings or PLs are common causes of intra-team rivalry.

 

Objectives/ Appraisals:

·         Conflict between manager and Direct report on assessment against objectives and more commonly against readiness for promotion.

·         Conflict within a manger when he or she is expected to implement decisions, policies and procedures that he or she hasn’t bought into.

·         And perhaps a corollary of the above point i.e. Conflict within a manager who feels he isn’t allowed enough leeway to implement things he is very passionate about.

 

Personality Types:

·         An introvert team member may feel that he is constantly getting sidelined by an aggressive and outspoken colleague – in terms of stakeholder visibility, access to more high-level projects or even better ratings.

·         Aggressive, highly directive managers/leaders bring about an air of autocracy. They want everyone to follow their instructions to the T. They would want their teams to be exactly like them – in thought, in intelligence, in beliefs, in creativity, in action.  They aren’t open to suggestions or an alternative approach (unless it is directed and enforced by the client himself). They end up creating an environment of suffocation and resentment. A breeding ground for conflicts.

·         A weak leadership that leaves too many gaps and holes, doesn’t lays down precise vision, mission, milestones and success criteria is another sign of emerging conflicts. The team isn’t well informed and there is a general lack of transparency. It could be both on a project/client front and also about internal organizational developments. This could pave way for assumptions, ambiguities, grapevine and eventually a state of chaos with too many erratic, contradictory decisions leading to conflicts.

·         Our often subconscious beliefs in stereotypes are another major factor. Stereotyping people based on their race, religion, nationality, gender or at times even cities (the most popular one being the perennial Delhi-Mumbai debate) can often lead to major conflicts.

·         On a similar line, being insensitive about issues like religion, politics, prior work experience, age, marital status and physical appearance is the most needless way of getting into conflicts. What’s humor to one may not be appreciated by others. The best approach, ofcourse is to be straight and empathetic, and avoid any kind of dry, dark or below-the-belt humor.  

Lack of clarity/communication about the precise goals:

·         An example of inter-team conflict could be the one between Operations and HR. The Ops may continue to feel that the recruitment team is not as passionate or quality-conscious (in their screening) and keeps sending them bad candidates. On the other hand, the HR could strongly feel that the Ops are being too ‘closed-out’ in not offering them enough rationale for rejecting good candidates. They may even feel that the JDs are too vaguely structured, too unrealistic or the process tests are too stringent.

·         Another most common grudge is the lack of passion, urgency, commitment, response and action accorded to most support processes like IT, Finance, HR and Admin. It once again boils down to empathy, communication and setting processes and best practices. What’s priority to an Ops team may infact be just perceived as a BAU by the IT.  And if everything is escalated as a priority, how is IT expected to rank relative priorities?  

Escalations:

·         Most conflicts may remain subtle, on a slow-flame for long periods. However, Escalations have a tendency to fuel-up most of these conflicts. The blame-game brings out the minutest of conflicts between the client and the delivery teams. Scoping, resourcing, assumptions, transitions - all aspects come to the fore. Within the delivery, it’s then a fight amidst the transition team, the project manager, the resources, the quality assurance and at times, even the vendors.  

As indicated earlier, this is just a laundry list of possible conflicts brewing around us. Run through the list once again. It’s ironical that most of the frameworks that were introduced to increase employee engagement are the most common causes of conflicts – SMART objectives, appraisals, feedback, rewards & recognitions, promotions, hikes. Perhaps that’s human behavior at its truest. People don’t really like the idea of being filtered, screened, and segregated or being pitched against each other. Even the most rationale folks find it difficult to accept the most logical defeats.

Despite our gradual evolution and acceptance of the Darwin’s principle of ‘Survival of the fittest’, it’s difficult to accept, when it works against us. But then, we don’t we see the athletes in a race track coming to blows after a race? The losers simply step aside and let the winners bask in glory. Why then in the corporate world, isn’t this Darwin principle taken as it comes?

Simple – because the athletes know their goal post and have no one else to blame. Things aren’t as clear and Black & White in the corporate. The people in the corporate world would be much more receptive, if they were conveyed their shortcomings in as many words. If their goals were set as objectively as possible. If they were constantly shown their progress dashboard rather than an end of the year report card. If they were coached and asked to buck up, rather than be coldly informed about their pace at the end of the race. In our quest to be good, nice, humane and popular – most managers shy away from conveying the tough message. And that, I believe is the single largest reason for ongoing conflicts in organizations. Not the presence of competitive performance and progress evaluation mechanisms, but rather our inability to use them effectively as enablers rather than water-tight structures.

A Conflict, just like some other complex words like Competition, Bureaucracy and Reservation, is often associated with negativity.  But think again, and most of these concepts, are the cornerstone of a fair, equal and efficient society. The now despised Bureaucracy is the foundation stone for the now progressive sounding Meritocracy. Wasn’t Reservation all about ‘Equal Opportunity’ at its outset? A society, organization or ecosystem sans any conflict, competition, bureaucracy or reservation is nothing more than a stagnant pond. Dead wood!

Most of these concepts, shouldn’t be killed or uprooted, but rather be nurtured carefully. Conflicts need to be approached based on the importance of issue & relationship at stake and resolved (or nurtured) accordingly. Rather than shun Conflicts, let’s take them head-on. Let’s pre-empt them, encourage them and create a fearless culture of creative conflicts. A culture with no dummies, sycophants and yes-men. But rather an innovative culture that breeds conflicts. Where everyone has a unifying goal, but do not think alike! 

 

 

As it goes in a popular commercial, just like ‘Daag’, Conflicts Achche hain!

 

Celebrities: The ones less Celebrated...

Celebrities: The ones less Celebrated...

 

Celebrities come in all shape, sizes and reasons…most often the lack of much reason. There are dynasty celebrities (Tusshar Kapoor, Uday Chopra, Abhishek Bachchan). There are self-made (pun intended) ones ala Poonam Pandey. The controversial ones (Dolly Bindra, Rakhee Sawant). 

There are one-hit celebrities: Kumar Gaurav, Navin Nischol, Sanjay Kapoor

There are one-song celebrities: The kaanta-laga girl, Khallas girl, the first Indian Idol (Abhijeet Sawant?)

And then there are one-line celebrities: A.K. Hangal (Itna Sannata kyun hai bhai?), McMohan (J Funny, he didn’t even mouth this line “Arrey O Samba!”) and Iftekhar (Hamare aadmiyon ne tumhe Charon taraf se gher liya hai!). Great character artistes all these. But sadly, their lives will always remain a net sum of these famous one-liners. Nothing more, nothing else.

This Joker is a Joke!

This Joker is a Joke!

 

Ek Tha Tiger continues to do roaring business. Shirin Farhad is garnering good response within its niche audience. The Son of Sardar due this Diwali has mounted a superb marketing campaign. However, with less than a week to go, Joker surprisingly carries zero buzz. With an A-list cast that is back after a 150-Crore juggernaut, a hot sci-fi premise, a super-title, on-paper, the movie could’ve been the biggest bonanza this session. However, not to be!

Talking about ground realities, the music has been a non-starter. The Chitrangada item number is colder than Poonam Pandey. Akki is nowhere in the promotions and has distanced himself completely.  Signs of either a bad marketing strategy or perhaps a very bad product (that even the producers are not confident about). By all means, I suspect  the latter. Looks like it’s shaped up to be a very shoddy movie!

Thumbs down to the big mouth Shirish Kunder. “Is pe Joke bhi Karna, aur isse Joker bhi samajhna!”

Give the Joker a miss and instead look forward to the Diwali fireworks of Son of Sardar!

 

Setting the Basic Expectations from Hughes IIM-C International Business Program

Setting the Basic Expectations from Hughes IIM-C International Business Program

As we gear-up for super-exciting executive programs from marquee institutes, guess it’s worthwhile to set some ground rules to set the tone for such sessions. Each one of us will have clear-cut objectives for participating in such programs. Programs that take substantial investment from us – both in terms of hard-earned moolah and time. Some of us could be pursuing such programs for getting the privileged brand (IIM-C in this case) on our resumes, some for immediate professional advancement and of course, a majority of us for pure learning.

After having paid the price, all of us are bonafide customers (stakeholders J) and have all the rights to want the most from such products/programs. All of us have all the rights to ask any question and demand to know any information during our sessions.  However, going by a few questions during the initial few sessions, I feel that we tend to deviate from our core objectives. The core objectives of –

1.       Making the most of the experience of some of the best faculty in business

2.       Making the most of the intelligence of a high-performing peer group

3.       Trying to focus more on real-world case studies, business applications and global best practices and strategies.

Of course, I am no authority to put forth the collective objectives of the entire group.  But please correct me if I am way off the mark on the same.

Here are some questions, which (being customers) we can continue to ask during our sessions. But I strongly believe, that they’ll dilute the impact of our sessions and won’t yield much value –

·         Attendance

In our workplaces, do we ask the IT to fix the AC? Do we complain to Admin about unfair appraisals? Or do we reach out to Finance for a virus in our PC? 

Let’s get it right friends. Nothing more futile than pestering the esteemed IIM profs for attendance. It’s a Hughes question and better to seek help from our centre coordinators. If that doesn’t work, just call up our program manager and follow-up with him/her.

 

·         Bad link/connection errors/ audio-video issues

Once again Hughes issues and best to inform the Centre coordinators sitting right next to you.

 

·         How will this course help me Professionally? Personally? Financially? Spiritually?

Face it - The only way this course will help us is opening our grey cells to some global concepts and refreshing some business principles we’ve always known about. No job guarantees, no minimum hike that you could expect, no assurance of moving up in the management hierarchy, no superman status in the job market. The biggest way it could help us is in providing the IIM C credentials on our resumes. Probably, a very effective filter in separating out our resumes amongst zillion others. Beyond this, it’s for us to apply our learning and FLY! We could get the certificate and still move nowhere professionally - if we choose not to apply the learnings in our existing jobs, in our approach to situations or in the way we deal with our clients and stakeholders (oh, looks like I still have this ‘stakeholder’ hangover! J)

·         Will the family members of an employee be the stakeholders in a company?

Honestly, these are the type of questions, we would bring up during our college years to sound over-smart and irritate our professors. It has to end somewhere friends, right? Will my mother-in-law be the stakeholder in my current company? My dog consumes ‘Pedigree’ dog food, so is he a stakeholder in the Pedigree Company?

Friends, let’s get a hang of the concepts and move on. It would be extremely beneficial if we make the most of these critical hours during our weekends and after-office hours. It’s a huge sacrifice for most of us. So, I am sure most of us wouldn’t want to waste critical hours in such futile questions. We have paid through our respective noses, not to understand the key differences between MD, Chairman, CEO, Executive director, etc. These are huge topics to be discussed during web-sessions and as a matter of fact, such information is readily available on the internet. Why would we want to waste critical resources (faculty time, our time) in asking redundant information which is otherwise easily Google-able?

·         A flurry of questions on the chat window

Hope all of us are aware – there is no special prize for the student who asks the most questions. There are times, when we hound our professors with a flurry of questions (like media channels). Frankly, do we expect him/her to keep scrolling up/down and answer each of our questions? And then, we have the discourtesy to repeat the same question with “Sir, you haven’t yet answered my question. Can I please expect a response?” Guys, let’s show some respect to ourselves, to our profs and have the courtesy to ask questions one at a time. Allow the Prof to answer an existing question before raising the next one. Simple etiquettes, no?

Friends, it’s a premium program – elite institute, high-profile faculty, premium price. And we are the premium customers. It’s essential that we set some premium standards of our questions and discussions.

It’s more like a premium restaurant. The best of chefs whipping up the best of cuisines. It’s on us – Either browse through the elegant menu and ask to be informed about the exotic dishes. Or ask the baffled steward to “AC zara idhar ghumana and aisa kuch laa, jo ang pe lage!” (remember Aamir Khan in Rangeela?)

 

Think about it.

Deploying Advanced Analytics on Basic Financial Statements for Increasing Marketing Effectiveness

Deploying Advanced Analytics on Basic Financial Statements for Increasing Marketing Effectiveness

Genesis:

More often than not initiatives to increase marketing ROI are greeted with a lot of inertia and skepticism. All the more so in the banking sector, where marketing is more about seeing opportunities, conceptualizing new ideas, devising eye-ball grabbing campaigns ,and at best, generating the required ‘buzz’. The all essential ‘pull factor’ that brings a customer to your bank. Beyond this the conversions are more a factor of the customer service and the product teams. However, have the banks ever paused to consider the effects of missing out on a possible ‘target’ customer for a specific campaign? Or even more harmful, bringing in an incorrect ‘target’ who goes back feeing disgruntled about the product (for which he was never the right target to begin with).

The Background:

Banks offer a more diverse portfolio of services than before, and they do so over a wider range of channels. While this trend has given banks more latitude to compete, it has made formulating and modulating marketing strategies, tactics and programs considerably more complex. That’s because as the range of options has grown—a good thing by any measure—marketing resources are as scarce as ever. To optimize how they invest them, banks need a way to continually measure their effectiveness, learn what works and adapt over time.

On a positive note, it’s great that banks are considerably investing in costly primary research and reaching out to their customers/potential customers for their attitudes, preferences and disposition towards their products and services. However, the essential question is – Are banks effectively utilizing the terabytes of existing customer data already within their custody? The immediate answer could be an overwhelming ‘Yes’ for the larger banks with all the huge investments in data warehousing, business intelligence applications and scores of analytical teams. For the not so bigger banks, the answer could an ambitious “Yes, we’re getting there”. But some of the key questions for both these segments of banks would be –

1. Do the fast-paced marketing teams have an ongoing dialogue with such fortified warehousing and BI structures? Or do they exist as ‘happy to be mutually exclusive’ departments?
2. Are ‘Analytics’ and ‘BI’ still perceived to be statistical warehouses for more strategic initiatives? Teams that are more about using rocket-science statistics for pricing and product development decisions.
3. Does the term ‘Analytics’ still sounds intimidating for most marketers to reach out and deploy their marketing instincts?
4. Does it evoke inertia and/or phobia of being too data intensive? And thus too time and effort consuming in arranging and organizing the mostly unstructured data.
5. And along the way, has it become a widely accepted phenomenon of Analytics being too expensive for all its upfront licensing and implementations costs? 

For all the myths, perceptions and exaggerated expertise around ‘Analytics’, the simple premise for this blog piece is the basic question of (and pardon me for the repetition) ‘Are banks effectively utilizing the terabytes of existing customer data already within their custody?’ Are the banks seizing the huge opportunities offered by simple (and rich) transactional data in a customer’s monthly financial statements? A data that is ready to be consumed from the word GO! No structuring, no arranging, organizing or sanitizing. It’s there. It’s always been there. And it’s a dynamite of readily available information at no incremental cost (as in Primary research). And the biggest advantage is that it’s hardcore behavioral data that is completely insulated from the ill-effects of sampling, methodology, techniques and data collection practices of primary research. It’s all about what your customers actually are. How they have been actually behaving (over a period of time) instead of what they can do, intend to do or aspire to be like.

The Idea:

1. Reap the benefits of advanced analytics in not-so analytics friendly (and perhaps not so prepared) environments piloting through available transactional data.
2. Cut the lead time, inertia and phobia that’s associated with undertaking advanced analytic projects.
3. Make analytics more accessible to the tactical and fast-paced world of intuitive marketers. Insights that reaffirm their conviction to pursue certain initiatives. At the same time, highlight hard-entrenched trends that dissuade them from committing costly marketing mistakes.
4. Identify and exploit finer consumer niches (as evident in each customer’s actual financial transactions) rather than trying to milk homogenous mega-segments (most often force-fitted) through mass-market marketing initiatives. Not every HNI thinks and behaves the same. So how then, is he/she expected to be driven by similar stimuli?
5. The core idea is to shift from the ‘marketing-as-an expense’ mindset to the idea that marketing is a true profit driver.  

  

The Methodology: 

1. It starts with creating a mega data warehouse of all existing transactional data across all customers over the past 3 years…atleast. And as it goes in statistics, the more the merrier. 
2. Go granular! Start with a detailed understanding of each customer’s banking needs drawn directly from his purchase patterns, lifestage trends and changes in purchasing power over a longer period of time.
3. Using predictive analytics models, each customer is “scored” on their likelihood to purchase each product in a bank’s portfolio. The corollary benefit of this approach is that it helps the bank’s marketers to pinpoint product clusters that represent “sweet spots” for cross-selling opportunities.
4. The basic principle in such an approach is a continually evolving model. The model’s analytics uncover new behavioral patterns that can be translated into new marketing programs, as well as to fine-tune existing ones.

The Benefits:

1. The biggest benefit would be the degree to which this model can be woven into the company’s marketing ‘DNA’.  The ability to monitor each (rapidly evolving) customer and align tactical marketing decisions in sync with the most profitable opportunities.
2. The model relies on constantly updated customer account information, enabling it to detect changes in service consumption patterns and preferences. It generates customer segment profiles on purchase patterns, spending power and lifestage and allows a bank identify and target the most attractive segments.
3. The predictive analytics model provides the basis to shift marketing resources from lower performing programs to those with the highest ROI.

The Possibilities to Leverage this Model:

1. Analyze customer behavior to identify key predictors of customer satisfaction.
1. Measure and track customer loyalty in multiple ways to target retention efforts.
2. Satisfy and retain valuable and profitable customers and attract others like them.
3. Increase customer satisfaction and lifetime value by continually tracking customer attitudes and responding to emerging problems and opportunities.
4. Prompt people (or systems) to proactively address issues of customer satisfaction, applying appropriate resources (e.g. rewards, promotion, loyalty program) to improve customer retention.
2. Develop and deliver customer-driven products, services, tie-ups and alliances for target customers.
1. Identify customer segments and use them to better target promotional campaigns.
2. Cluster customers into groups, determine what characteristics are common and what characteristics are different between groups.
3. Optimize marketing efforts by testing concepts, imagery and messages before deployment.
4. Identify which customers are likely to respond to specific promotional offers.
3. Increase the profitability of customer interactions by maximizing the value of up-sell or cross-sell opportunities.
4. Make customer-centric decisions with far greater confidence.
1. Gain predictive insights that improve marketing campaigns, increase satisfaction and ensure loyalty.
2. Empower business users with the ability to create and operationalize predictive analytics.
3. Produce more accurate predictions by utilizing all available data collected about customers.

To conclude, what can be the expected Success Criterion? Where could banks see immediate Returns and Benefits ?

Well, here are some immediate marketing victories -

1. Increase in response to marketing campaigns across all the essential campaign parameters i.e. awareness, enquiries/walk-ins and conversions.
2. Reduction in all below the line campaign costs i.e. direct mailers, calls or even mass-market banking activities that can be sharper and narrower in their target audience invitations.
3. More entrenched and involved customers that can be well-reflected in parallel Primary research activities as well (higher awareness and disposition, lower possibilities to deflect, higher proportion of multi-product customers).
4. Improvements across the board in key metrics like –
1. Customer lifetime value
2. Gains in YoY customer spending
3. Reduced Attrition

So now, here’s circling back to the basic question once again ‘Are banks effectively utilizing the terabytes of existing customer data already within their custody?’ Are we ready to unravel the huge opportunities offered by the humble (and yet powerful) monthly financial statements? Can Analytics shrug off a bit of its intimidating persona and be readily accessible for the instinct-driven Marketing. Can Marketing evolve to be more Instinctively Intelligent?