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In Search of the Obvious
Jack Trout

Branding has become a subject in marketing that has been turned from a molehill into a mountain, rues Jack Trout in In Search of the Obvious (Westland). The subject of branding has spread from products to rock groups, movie stars, and even symphonies, he notes. “Maybe it’s time to cut through all the silliness and clarify things.”

Baffled by over ‘2,000 books covering some topic related to brands or branding,’ Trout finds that what used to be just the logo and the name of a product or a company has now become ‘this almost mystic creation that encompasses unique identities and qualities separate from the product names… In the old days, a brand name was nothing more than a word in the mind. A proper noun that is spelled with a capital letter.’

He is aghast that new managements, goaded by Wall Street, and driven by greed, can unwisely push the brand. An example cited in the book is of Volvo’s marketing initiative, in which agencies were asked to take the advertising beyond safety. Oft-ignored lessons of great importance.

Public Relations: Principles and Practices
Iqbal S. Sachdeva

The days of PR people working as errand-boys between the organisation and media are over, declares Iqbal S. Sachdeva in Public Relations: Principles and Practices ( www.oup.com). “The multipli city of TV channels, the mind-boggling number of newspapers, particularly the emergence of financial journalism…glossy specialist magazines, the mobile telephony, and the Internet noise, all have made the public relations job more challenging like never before.”

Realising the exigencies of the changed scenario, the corporate world, today, is in dire need of hardcore professionals who understand the intricacies of complex business, the author insists.

Indian Youth in a Transforming World: Attitudes and perceptions

Are there any clear patterns in the leisure activities of the younger generation? Some answers emerge from a chapter in Indian Youth in a Transforming World: Attitudes and perceptions, edited by Peter Ronald deSouza, Sanjay Kumar, and Sandeep Shastri ( www.sagepublications.com).

As can be expected, there are significant differences across age groups, educational levels, gender and place of residence, when it comes to engaging in leisure activities, such as listening to music, going out with friends, reading books and magazines, playing some sport, and watching films and television. There are, however, ready numbers of value. Close to half the youth in each age category (14-18, 19-24, 25 and above) spend a moderate amount of time in leisure pursuits, the authors state. “While four out of every ten youth in the 19+ years age group devote very little time in leisure pursuits, the percentage of those who spend very little time on leisure activities is much less among those below 19 years of age.”

For more than a leisurely read.

D. Murali

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