Rise of the robots, Hollywood style

Hollywood robots are no match for Rajnikanth’s 'Chitti'. Yet they are designed to achieve wonders and too good to be true

Remember Ultron — the accidental creation of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner — who gives himself a metal body, plots the earth’s destruction and sends hundreds of drones to swarm the Avengers? The big action finale of Avengers: Age of Ultron can be the perfect metaphor for robot invasion in movie theatres. If Hollywood is obsessed with sci-fi, they’re often incomplete without the metal marvels having charismatic personalities. We are talking of robots that can be menacing, uniquely intelligent and can save the day like super heroes. Here are some of the unforgettable movie robots and why:

TARS
He’s the sarcastic space robot, the real breakout star of Interstellar. With rectangular structures, he doesn’t have a face (but he does have screens) to flaunt. He’s witty, speaks fluently and can be programmed to be a better suited companion. While many robots tend to encounter monumental engineering problems to cross even a room, TARS can actually travel through black holes, move through water and willing to sacrifice himself to help his space-friends.

David
He’s the android attendant who served as a crew member aboard the spaceship  Prometheus. David is calm, emotionally sensitive, has unlimited memory and can perform critical surgeries. He’s fluent in all known languages and can even communicate with the extraterrestrial 'Engineers'. He activated the virtual map of the galaxy inside the alien craft and has the ability to navigate it. And that’s not all. David can continue to function even after getting decapitated.

Terminator T-850
In the battle between humans and machines, he’s our masiha. With metallic endoskeleton covered with living tissue, he looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger sans expression in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Programmed for extreme missions, he can drive just anything as well as fire lethal weapons with precession. He doesn’t have onboard weaponry like the T-X (hybrid infiltrator cyborg), but can withstand plasma fire, reboot and even revert alterations from (T-X’s) nanobots. Hasta la vista, baby. 


Atom
A washed-up junkyard bot that challenged, mocked and almost defeated the mighty Zeus — Atom is a true 'people’s champion' in Real Steel. While other bots rely on remote and voice commands, Atom has an additional shadow mode capability and mimic its handler’s movements with flawless accuracy. He is small in front of most fighters, but he can take hits and just keep on going. And he’s not the shortest bot in Real Steel World Robot Boxing. Toolbox is.

BB-8
Finally, here’s the super-fast rolling droid that became a 'star' even before the Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens hit the theatres. It has a robotic ball for a body, topped with an equally robotic head that not only doesn’t fall off but also lets the body move freely below it. At the time of posting this piece, techies across the world are wondering just how it moves (the winning theory is ‘magnets’).

Turn ‘social’ for engagement at workplace

If employee engagement is imperative as a business tool today, nothing can beat the social media to achieve the desired results  

It doesn’t matter who you are — an entrepreneur, CXO or a fresh recruit in an MNC — you just can’t ignore the omnipresence of social media! Not surprisingly, organisations globally are leveraging the strength of social media to interact and engage with stakeholders, crowd source ideas/ solutions, build brands, campaigns, crisis mitigation et al. Within an organisation, it is also a critical tool for effective employee engagement and communication.

As the modern workplace is turning mobile and diverse, social media is the answer to operational changes, employee relations and in-house campaigns. But first thing first: social media doesn’t survive in a silo. And even if it does, it should not be evaluated in isolation. Its effectiveness within an organisation bears a direct co-relation with fundamentals of the organisational culture and other tools of internal communication like in-house magazines, the intranet, staff meetings, videos, emails, message boards, etc.

With more and more Millennials making their way into the workforce, communications today are about speed, accuracy and seamless exchange of data and ideas. So, in a modern office, it’s about webinars, micro blogging, pictures and videos, applications, instant messaging and more. One of the fundamental hallmarks of these is proactive interaction, which leads to engagement.

In a complex work environment, social media is the platform to correct mistakes, apologise and acknowledge not-so-pleasant feedback among internal stakeholders. This is critical for an organisation to bring down internal glass-barriers and maintain a collaborative culture along the hierarchy. It only helps build confidence in an employee and make him feel connected when he/she receives a social recognition online, made part of a decision making process — something which the pay packet cannot ensure. This results in an upturn in creativity and innovation, and overall improvement in work quality.

Issues of security and compliance in a workplace can no longer restrict an employee from being on the social media. It’s time organisations see its employees in a different light — not as potential time-bombs that could go off without warning, but as engaged, proactive brand ambassadors.  

Mobile video advertising’s the way to moolah

Are you among those who believe that poor data pack ecosystem in India is going to play spoilsport in the smartphone buzz? You may not be totally mistaken, but silver lining’s on the horizon — in contrast to 2012 Q4, most of the telecom players in India are slashing their 3G rates by 60-70 per cent now, followed by leading telecom players recently announcing that on-the-go 3G charges are going down by another 80 per cent.

These developments will make way for scale, and top mobile video advertising players, like Vdopia, are banking on it. Technologies to monetise mobile video advertising are in place and it’s a matter of time and scale before they start raking in the moolah. While, it’s true that India is predominantly a 2G market, Vdopia’s patented technology [.VDO] allows video advertising to happen seamlessly over 2G and 3G mobile devices automatically. The technology identifies the mobile device’s capability, if one’s running it on a 2G or 3G and it streams video accordingly. And the quality of the video output is same in both 2G and 3G. How? Technically speaking, it’s frame-rate-per-second that gets deferred.

But, given the fact that mobile advertising is less than 4 per cent of the overall advertisement pie in India, what is the kind of consumer attention one can look at looking at? During my recent meeting with Srikanth Kakani, co-founder and CEO of Vdopia, an air of optimism from this Stanford alumnus greeted me. “Consider the growth trajectory of mobile TV. By the end of 2012, the entire mobile TV ecosystem in India, if I just count the apps, was not even $1 million. By the third quarter of 2013, the whole ecosystem today stands at $10 million. Advertisers cannot ignore it,” said Srikanth.  

In pic: Srikanth Kakani, co-founder and CEO, Vdopia. Pic credit: Dalip Kumar

Next, look at the pure numbers: we have 27 million smartphones in India now, according to the latest IAMAI report. The report says that 40 per cent of internet accessibility in 2014 in Indian market will come from mobile devices. And the data players are realising this. Today, none of their ads talk about call rates. It’s data. What we are witnessing today is, mobile handsets are coming closer to Rs 6,000 price bracket, data packs are coming bundled in the phone, and it’s penetration in tier 2 and tier 3 cities is also poised to happen, because the conversion from feature phone to smartphone is happening at the rate of 40 per cent annually in India. At the end of 2014, India will already have 100 million smartphones with data pack and video capability. When the market is explode at this speed, the direction of monetisation or the marketing-dollar spend will also have to move in that direction.  

In fact, when it comes to video advertising, mobile is more flexible than other mediums, which make it cheaper — not because an advertiser is going to spend less money, but what he spends per impression in mobile will be much less than any other medium. That way, an advertiser will be spending less money per effective impression he is getting in mobile. And the best part: Srikanth claims, “TV advertising is fiction!” He reasons that how does one know if a TV ad is seen by the audience? How can one confirm if the audience didn’t ignore a TV ad by turning to other channel(s)? You don’t know, but in the digital platform you know. Television may be a popular platform for advertisements, but Srikanth’s incredulous unless analytics or data supports the claim. It’s a bold statement to make, but Srikanth stands his ground.  

The law of attraction

A lot has been said and written about brand appeal, brand trust and loyalty. But did you realise all these brand properties are also governed by the basic laws of attraction? If appeal is the inherent force of attractiveness of a brand that interests, stimulates or makes a brand desirable (or not), trust forms the basic platform for any exchange, which largely depends on the powerful intangible force — attractiveness.
Why attractiveness? When I spoke to N Chandramouli, CEO, Trust Research Advisory, in Delhi sometime back, he explained the rationale: “If one attempts to send a rocket from earth to the moon, and need to chalk out a trajectory, he needs to know the forces that govern these planetary bodies. Likewise, if you want to take your brand into a certain trajectory, you will need to know the forces that govern the brand.” The forces that determine attraction, broadly, are rational and emotional appeal, which are usually part of many contemporary communication exercises.
To understand this, let’s look at Amul, India’s most attractive brand in the food and beverage category and 18th among all categories, according to India’s Most Attractive Brands 2013, a study by Chandramouli's Trust Research Advisory. Its emotional quotient leads to a patriotic feeling Amul, the taste of India). From butter to ice-cream, the rational quotient of Amul lies in its undisputed quality of products. Its aspirational quotient is the happy feeling the brand tends to bring in, and recognition of the brand among competitors as well. Consistency with ‘utterly butterly delicious’ Amul girl, for over a half century now, is the hallmark of its communication quotient.
Every brand has to attract its audience. Having said that, attractiveness arises from various facets of a brand that helps in creating an overall aura around it. Not surprisingly, brands spend billions in marketing and advertisements trying to be attractive to customers. If the basics of attractiveness quotient are understood and applied to brands, there are immense benefits to be reaped, says the study.

And this romance with brands is no different from humans. Their bond with consumers might, in many cases, begin with an intense desire, and, with the right approach, turn into understanding and companionship. Attractiveness of a brand, by textbook definition, is its intangible force which goes beyond the physical appeal. It is the overwhelming pull which unconsciously but irresistibly draws the audience towards itself, and every such intimacy has a different tale to tell.
Taking on the competition to local mobile manufacturers after toppling Nokia to become the market leader in India, Samsung Mobiles surely have many a tales to tell. After all, it is no mean feat to emerge as the most attractive brand in the country! The aggressive marketer tops the list of India’s Most Attractive Brands 2013 among all categories, closely followed by Sony and Nokia, according to a recent research-based report by Trust Research Advisory. India’s fourth most attractive brand is LG.
Samsung’s key lever definitely lies in its turnaround strategy. Till a couple of years back, there wasn't much expectation from Samsung in the mobile handset category. Then suddenly it transformed to offer customers some great products in terms of technology, innovation, pricing and performance. Now look at Apple. Apple has become a great brand by virtue of its exclusivity. Restricted accessibility is in the DNA of Apple¬ — a conscious strategy to keep customers interested.
Samsung Mobiles, on the other hand, is an available brand that is also good in many respects. Marketers believe, this is where Samsung will gain in the long run. After all, a brand cannot keep its customers on the edge forever. Nokia, has also been a robust and available brand. But it lost market and attractiveness to Samsung due to a lack of enthusiasm to hard-sell products. Samsung doesn’t rest; it is always hungry and survives on a positive desperation, says the study. It is one brand that is truly paranoid about its customers, in a positive way.

Trouble in the air

Born and brought up in this industrial city, Durgapur still charms me with its cosmopolitan mix, spread-out neighbourhoods, civic infrastructure and the development possibilities it still holds. But if we look at the last 10-15 years, the city has failed to develop in a sustainable manner. Overnight our playground at the centre of the city was stolen! For some crores of rupees, our football ground was converted into a mall. The ‘compensatory playground’ built beside Srijoni auditorium at City Centre is not open for all. The ambitious city today hosts the ruined hillock of Devi Choudharani, dead Damodar (river) and shows of deforestation at large.

The only ‘work’ the ADDA and the municipal jokers did in the last couple of decades (I think I am justified to be pessimistic here) is to sell-off land for residential and commercial spaces. Irrespective of how much revenue the local administration raked in during the last two decades, condition of the Sub-Divisional Hospital, encroachments and road condition of the city barely improved, while the poison in the air continue to choke our lungs.

In fact, the one issue that was never addressed (wonder if it will ever) is the poison in the air the city has been carrying for the last five decades. Air pollution is killing the residents here! To kill someone, a community or an entire population, slowly over a period of time, is as much terrible a crime as killing someone instantly. Do we have a regional office of West Bengal Pollution Control Board in Durgapur? Even there is one, it’s a joke anyway.

What I fail to understand is, why the educated and ‘enlightened’ people of the city are so reluctant to address the issue of air pollution. Why did the tax payers never questioned the logic of setting up sponge-iron factories right on the outskirts of the city? I fail to understand what is stopping the local media to raise this long-standing concern of the city — air-pollution. Sheer event-reporting is not journalism enough.

Can someone tell me if people at the helm of affairs in the ADDA and Municipal Corporation are also residents of Durgapur? If they are, they must also be inhaling the same industrial poison. Doesn’t this ring a bell in their minds too? Some of these may be a part of ‘Maharatna’ companies and mega industrial conglomerates. But nothing can take away the people’s right to live a healthy life. If Bokaro Steel Plant and Bhilai Steel Plant (also SAIL units) can have in place pollution control system (electrostatic precipitators or electrostatic air cleaners), why can’t Durgapur Steel Plant? Things do not change for good automatically; it’s the people who herald changes.

The local political class here (red, saffron or green), like their country-wide brethren, is great at lofty speeches and race for power and position. They have better things in life and in their political career to do than taking up an issue that is ‘invisible’ and ‘not immediately affecting’ the lives of their vote banks. Let’s accept, we can’t really trust our elected representatives in such issues.   

So long the people of this city remain self-centred (in my word, selfish!), Durgapur and its population will continue to be at the receiving end of bureaucratic greed, political hypocrisy and industrial poison. The worst part: Bhopal gas tragedy attracted global attention because it wiped out the population of a city overnight, but no one will know about Durgapur. Because the people here chose to die a slow and silent death.

Beyond the politics of banality

Despite being one of the largest democracies in the world, aberrations in the political system of India have been put to question time and again. What we need today are changes in the political domain to make democracy thriving

Social activist Anna Hazare took on the government over corruption. Baba Ramdev followed. But ask the intellectual Indians and they have more to add beyond just corruption and black money that are taking a toll on democracy. No wonder, there is growing demand for making political representation more accurate, driving out the ‘politics of banality’, setting standards for party disciplines and more.    

For a nation like India, with a sixth of humanity living within its borders, one factor that binds all Indians to a single commitment is democracy. But, there are aberrations also. The present political system let people’s representatives get elected for five years, but with no workable mechanism to ensure or assess their accountability to their respective constituencies.

The existing electoral structure also follows a ‘first pass the post’ system. It allows contenders in an election winning the maximum number of votes, even by a small margin against their opponents, win majority seats in a House for a political party. This, apparently, leads to an inaccurate political representation.   

When I spoke to Prof Pradip Kumar Datta of Political Science Department, University of Delhi sometime back, he hinted at the need for closer correspondence between the number of seats and percentage of votes that goes into the making of a government. Parliamentary system of democracy is based on representation. And representation, in order to be effective, needs to be more accurate of people’s choices.

Political analysts also stress on getting rid of, what many say, the ‘politics of banality’. This has manifestations like de-institutionalisation through ‘pure politics’ (politics with an exclusive win-lose orientation), state terror, the composite process of communalisation, criminalisation, etc. The root cause of all these abnormalities is that India’s democratic politics is allegedly overrun with people who do not ‘live for’ politics, but ‘live off’ it.

Suggesting possible solutions, Prof Amartya Mukhopadhyay from department of Political Science, University of Calcutta, stresses on compelling political parties to be more broad-based in their recruitment of leaders. His suggestion: People who have decided to ‘live for’ politics must be given a chance, to help the transition from ‘formal’ democracy to ‘substantive’ democracy.

It’s also time for political parties to set standards of internal party discipline. While ruling parties tend to be unrestrained on different issues, oppositions try to lead a movement which ethically they are ineligible. Thus, to encounter and humiliate each other, political bigwigs from both sides are loosing sight of the real issue which is to work together and set the ship on sail for all-round prosperity. 

It is time political fraternity of the country listen to the voice of young India – inculcate a new type of ‘civil loyalty’ beyond divided interests, rejuvenate the pre-colonial Indian dream, and allow all communities in India – creedal and cultural – to feel ‘at home’.   

Welcome to the ad-mad world!

In a social market place, if we can’t remain immune to the instigation of advertisements any more, all we need is individual analysis

It is no more an exaggeration that we live in a world driven by media and advertisements. From the moment we wake up in morning, till we get back to sleep again — our lives are wrapped by mass media. No matter if we are scanning the morning newspaper with a cup of coffee, listening to the radio on the way back from office, or enjoying our favourite serial on TV — we just can’t cut off from it. Worst, even if we attempt to relieve our eyes looking at the horizon, it is sure to get obstructed by some gigantic billboard!      

Welcome to 21^st century Delhi, where human lives and decisions are governed by product, commodities and services — 24X7! In fact, advertisements and advertisers rule the roost today as they are sponsors of every big and small events/ activities across the country. Be it through radio, Internet, mobile phones or some public affairs — they know how to reach you and ignite your interest in their respective product and services. And why not, when every single move in the marketing world is carefully crafted aimed at making the maximum impact towards profit maximisation.  

No wonder, advertisements today are wittier than ever before, each one of them are different and appeal to all our emotions. How can one keep his face away from the ‘Jaago Re’ advertisements which urge all citizens to wake up and fight against corruption? It also inspires people ‘to be the change you seek’. If ZooZoos are a hit during the last two IPL seasons, ‘Hari Sadu’ line of TV commercials by an online job portal had became talk of the town sometime back.

No different are a leading newspaper’s ‘Lead India’ and ‘Teach India’ campaigns that had a country-wide appeal — giving out a call to be the change that we expect in Indian society, an opportunity for citizens to shrug off their indifference and put a shoulder to the wheel. Also, every brand is incomplete today without a catch line, which makes an impression in the back of our mind. Remember a popular bike model coming with the base line ‘feel like god’ or detergent powder saying ‘daag achcha hai’? To me, all of these aim only at adding visibility to a brand personality.

And there are advertisements that go to the extent of fleecing people/ customers as well! I chanced upon a print advertisement sometime back wherein a pen company claimed to offer ‘world’s longest writing pen’. But I was not surprised considering the increasing competition in corporate world and noisy brand-wars. There are advertisements also with lofty promises which instigate people to spend on product and services that are often unnecessary. As far as children are concerned, they have a tendency of grabbing the dialogues, actions etc, aired or published through the media. In situations as such, if we can’t really stay away from the ad-mad world, we need to analyze advertisements critically before being swayed by them.