Teens: They are a Moving Target

Hi All,
Few days back, I was travelling with my friend who's a photographer in his car. On the way, he picked up his 19 year old daughter from college. We started talking and in the short span i spent talking to her gave me some interesting insights and also made me realise the sweeping changes taking place among the teenagers today. For teens, there's no permanent role model and it's a moving target for say the favourite sportsman. It is Nadal one day, Federer the next and Dhoni next. Among movie stars, the current fav is Farhan Akhtar, but one is not sure for how long. Another trend in teens is trying to be the first on the block to know a new personality and flaunt the knowledge amongst peers. It is obvious that teenagers are more clued on thanks to availability of information across channels, but the most important platform is the Net. Mobile phones is another gadget which occupies a lot of mind space not only in teens but also children. The other my friend who has a seven year old son was telling me about how savvy his son is when it comes to navigating the phone. Truly, the worlds' changing and changing how? Little wonder, marketers spend sleepless nights trying to unravel the key to reaching out to these segments.
I welcome your thoughts on the topic.

Article on Political Advertising

Hi All,
Here's the link to the article i wrote on political advertising in Brand Equity. Look forward to your comments.

Cheers
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/ET/navigator.asp?Daily=ETM&login=default
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/ET/navigator.asp?Daily=ETM&login=default

Retail Shakeout

Hi All,
Apologies for the long absence, but have been extremely busy the last few months. However my new year resolution is to update my blog regularly, so here goes.
The slowdown's real and everyone is now busy grappling with it. Nowhere is it more visible than retailing in India. Dwindling footfalls, discounts galore as retailers try to woo the shoppers to their shop. Manufacturers stopping supplies to retailers over non payment of dues is becoming common and one of the retail chain which expanded aggressively sometime back is facing huge capex constraints. As a result, the shelves is devoid of products, employees have been sacked and some stores have been shut.
So is there a way retailers can tide over the slowdown? Did the aggressive expansion plan become their undoing? There are many questions to be mulled over and addressed. I invite thoughts and ideas on the topic.