Expanding Horizons...

Horlicks was always considered a health drink for kids.. Suddenly we saw Woman's Horlicks with promotions saying if you care for the women in your home pls buy Horlicks etc. etc..Not content with that Horlicks has started targeting men as well. Now they have Horlicks Lite for men with the ad showing a husband running at top speed to give his wife on a moving train a packet of snacks . So a top beverage manufacturer has understood that one way to increase sales is to expand the target audience at whom the product is aimed namely - kids , men , women etc. etc

Take the case of fairness creams.. The targeted audience clearly young and female. Now expanding to the male horizon with all top beauty brands having their versions of male fairness creams endorsed by popular actors like Shahrukh Khan, John Abraham, Shahid Kapoor etc..

Take the beauty industry as a whole. 10 years back it was targeted exclusively at female teens and twenties.. Now I think the maximum ads are about the anti aging creams and beauty treatments for the
30+ age group

Cadbury's chocolates - a domain of kids- shows a 67 year old Amitabh Bachan buying a box of chocolates for his best friend.. Cadbury's is now something to be enjoyed by the whole family...

One of the Coke ads shows a middle aged woman adding Coke to her shopping basket..

Or take the case of the coaching for the professional courses. In my time we started that in 11th. Now we have coaching classes for students starting from 5th (FIIT-JEE) .. Again a means to increase market share.

The list is endless. Somewhere I feel there are lessons for us also to keep looking for opportunities to expand horizons both as individuals and the organization as a whole...

And the Oscar Goes to ....

This year's best picture Oscar went to 'The Hurt Locker' directed by Kathryn Bigelow.  While I am all for women power and the historic significance of the first woman director winning an Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director, that too on International Women's Day, somehow there seems to be a sense of unfairness. Let us look at the closest competitor 'Avatar'. It has been without doubt  declared the best movie ever made by the public. This declaration comes from the fact that the movie has made more than $ 2 Billion, has been watched world over and is still going strong. Yes it has a dumb story, is cliched, not coherent in parts , but you cannot deny its tremendous impact and the vision behind the project. On the other hand Hurt Locker has berely grossed $16 million and is by no means the most popular film of the year..

I don't think there were many surprises in the rest of the awards. Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock were tipped to win anyway. Sandra Bullock has the dubious distinction of having a razzie and an Oscar side by side .. :)

Three cheers to James Cameroon.. I am running a little poll here.. So pls vote if you feel as strongly as I do.. :)

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