“Then let’s take the value of soap — doctors would not be able to function without soap. That would be quite a blow to medical science. I don’t remember meeting a single doctor who did not wash his hands after an examination!”

Karan: Doctors can use Lux bar and surgeries need not stop for want of liquid soap!

Ardaas: Same applies to tech products — you don’t have to use Word or Vista Operating System. You can use Wordstar and Linux.

Karan: Oh! but they are improvements on the operating systems applicable to different situations and users.

Ardaas: So is liquid soap. it is easier to spread and faster to spread. You may not think of it as improvement, but in 500 years of soap development, moving from a bar to liquid is a big incremental leap. Think in relative terms.

Soap development has been happening over 500 years. Every inch of gain today comes after decades of research because soap has reached a level of refinement that only 500 years can make happen. In the first 50 years of the invention of soap, things must have seemed pretty much like IT does today!

Karan: See, it’s about much more. I am sure where research is a result of a deep inquiry, the outcomes speak for themselves. Take for example, what is going on in my own organisation: the ego war based on brand extensions; where Mali the deodorant is sought to be extended to Mali a shampoo. Where did the idea come from? From a focus group discussion! By the way, isn’t Windows essentially different from Linux?

That night Karan was seized by a new thought — FMCG goods essentially cater to the senses! The minute this thought came to him, Karan went into overdrive. Logging on, he text messaged Sumati Das, his brand strategist, and Anirudh in Seattle. “Can you come online now … please?”
At 11 pm IST, Anirudh was doing 8 am, wading through a bowl of raisin bran while Sumati was catching up with a recording of American Idol and praying fervently for David Archuleta. Since she was on her laptop, she simply switched windows … but Anirudh texted back: “eating b/f; leave stuff to read; will join in 20 mins.”

So Karan picked Sumati’s brains: I think I have the logic now. FMCG cater by and large to the five senses, hence, they do a lot of packaging, selling, luring, seducing, convincing, and the five senses do not involve the intellect during the stage of experience. It is after the sense experience is over that the mind along with the intellect makes a decision on preference. Hence, the accent on how it looks, what it is called, how does it smell, and so forth. Tech products go for the intellect straight away. A Windows OS need not taste like tikka masala or choose to smell of jasmine. It is a no-nonsense product meant for brain and reasoning. It bypasses senses. Such products by definition do not need to ‘sell’ themselves to you. If your intellect buys, then the sale is made ... this is my point ...

Sumati: I am thinking of something as friendly as an apple. If branding is both art and science, then is there a place for art in IT branding? The most artistic brand in IT is definitely Apple. Their products, their brands, their logos and even their websites are artistic. Apple allowed consumers to ask — can I get this PC in another colour?

Karan: What I am talking about now is what the name rings in my mind when it is spoken.

Karan: I agree, plus when apple went elegant with a colourful apple with a chewed bit, you did look upon technology as belonging to the realm of my world too!

A new window sprang open. It was Anirudh. Karan copy pasted his chat with Sumati on Anirudh’s window…

Sumati: Absolutely! I think IT is in a vicious cycle to appear more IT; therefore, all these acronyms which don’t make sense; and now electronics is copycatting too. But the question is, is the consumer looking for something efficient or approachable?

Karan: What you are saying is, IT is credible, hence non-tech products too are trying to appear IT-like, so that the consumer takes them seriously. But then core IT is still not speaking English.

Sumati: Absolutely — if only they would step out of the IT vocabulary trap they are in — and understand the language being spoken about in the real world Anirudh: (having caught up) See, the importance of brand managers and branding in IT is quite different. For example branding for SAP which is ERP is different than MS Windows which is an OS, different than MySQL which is an open source database, and very different from Puppy Linux, Red Hat Linux, Suse Linux, again even more different from the several versions of Unix-AIX/HPUX … than MS XBOX which is gaming, different than Apple iPod which is a consumer device. So, more consumer centric a product is, higher is the branding.

Karan: Wowww… Do you think that sentence was even english?