The Hindu Business Line : Creative drive

The SemiTech Taipei 2006 conference turned out just fine for the Indian delegation. You got to hear the legendary Dr Morris Chang speak. Then of course, you got to visit the offices of TSMC and UMC and hear words of wisdom from senior management.

But the exhibition itself was a problem. In an exhibition directed at industrial buyers, what soft story would you hope to get, one that would interest hundreds of retail buyers? Sigh. So it was with a closed mind that you made the customary visit of stalls at the exhibition.

And to our surprise, a stall advertising the ordinary, mundane, common, flash disk. And why was it interesting? The company was actually branding the disk. It coloured it bright and gave it attributes. For instance, one example of a disk had images of a soccer ball on either side of the device. The company, A-data, was capitalising on the coming soccer World Cup to catch the imagination of the average buyer who could well be your average soccer fan.

The company has also got rights from Disney to have images of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and the rest of their pals on these removable flash disks. Certainly makes them look brighter.

But have the sales of these disks risen because of these addenda? Yes, says the representative at the stall but there is no official confirmation from the company yet. Our guess is that the disk is as commoditised as your everyday key chain.

If you were to buy a key chain, which one would you choose - the sober, gray one or the brightly coloured, innovatively shaped chain on which hangs an orange orangutan?

It's your pick