Monday 22 December 2008

The power of CEOspeak

The Hindustan Times reports:

“We have not and will not lay off no matter how bad it gets, even if recessionary trends get worse,” said Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies.
CEOs have this power. A single statement from the CEO can impact the company’s image in a manner that thousands of marketing dollars may not achieve.

At a time when the corporate world is leaving no stone unturned to cut costs, a statement like this requires courage, conviction and confidence. It sends out positive signals not only to employees, but also to customers and shareholders.

Incidentally, Vineet is one of the few Indian CEOs who blog regularly. Vineet’s blog is a great grazing place for unconventional fodder.

Monday 8 December 2008

Insurance, get a life

I was appalled to see this HDFC Standard Life Insurance ad on television last night.

Agreed, to sell insurance you sometimes need to take the fear route, but to instill the fear of losing their daddies in children (agar aapke papa ghum ho gaye toh?), and then feeding on that fear to sell life insurance to the parent is insensitive, cheesy, even reckless.

And the timing! Releasing this offensive ad at a time when the country is recovering from a terror strike is as insensitive as it gets. Business mercenaries would of course argue that there's nothing wrong in striking the iron when it's hot.

By comparison, I find the Pepsi "suicide ads" far less offensive.