*conditionsapply’s design of the online presence of La Patisserie, at Bangalore has been featured on CSS Mania!

And on a cascading domino-effect, the design has been featured in:

• CSSMAYO,
• DJ DESIGNER LAB ( They were kind enough to list us in their 30 Beautiful CSS Web Designs!),
• CSS LOGGIA and
• WEB DESIGN LEDGER ( Gisele Muller chose us in her 50 Red Web Designs to Inspire You !)

To have one’s web design featured on  CSS Mania, the largest CSS showcase in the world, is a matter of great pride for any Online Solutions team involved in Web Design.

So, it isn’t anything different, when it comes to us too, which is a vindication of our belief in the best practices in web design, providing cutting-edge, aesthetic, robust and above all, affordable online solutions for the Planet.

As Steve Pavlina rightly said, “Passion and purpose go hand in hand. When you discover your purpose, you will normally find it’s something you’re tremendously passionate about.”

We are just deliriously happy to find our effort, purpose  and our passion, vindicated in one creative stroke !

CLIENT :  La PATISSERIE (a part of Rendezvous Restaurants Private Limited)

INDUSTRY :  HOTELS & RESTAURANTS.

Rendezvous Restaurants Private Limited which is among the top 20 restaurant chains in India, has 6 properties in Bangalore under the brands 100ft, Bayleaf and F & B, (Friends & Bacchus as it is popularly known), which in turn houses the 4 diverse properties. Under a new marketing and consolidation strategy adopted by them, they wanted the earlier RRPL online property to be made into its brands as separate entities – each with its own identity and domain. This essentially meant having 6 online properties for their properties, each becoming a promotional and interactive domain on its own across online social communities and patronage.

WHAT THEY NEEDED.

La Patisserie, in itself is the best representation of an alfresco deli in Bangalore. Its location, design and the carefully thought-out menu – all of them enhance its brand positioning to the T. RRPL wanted its online presence to reflect exactly the same sunshine-warmth along with display of the full menu and the current offers and programs. The most essential part of the place had to be the design that evoked the same feeling of contentment and warmth that one felt sinking into the deli chairs on a day like any other.

WHAT WE DELIVERED.

conditionsapply gave La Patisserie an online identity which evoked something more than the sunshine-warmth that was the keynote – it generates smiles. The design that we zeroed in could only be best described as “disruptive and funny”, yet retained all the fundamental elements of navigational ease and  clean graphics – structured around the key color of rich dark brown – the regal shade of chocolate. The design has been a major factor in the increasing traffic of online visitors to the site and the corresponding increase in footfalls at the deli, once again underlining the importance of  design that cuts-through-clutter and crisp content as the fundamental denominator for any successful online enterprise.

VISIT La PATISSERIE ON THE WEB .

CLIENT :  BACCHUS (a part of Rendezvous Restaurants Private Limited)

INDUSTRY :  HOTELS & RESTAURANTS.

Rendezvous Restaurants Private Limited which is among the top 20 restaurant chains in India, has 6 properties in Bangalore under the brands 100ft, Bayleaf and F & B, (Friends & Bacchus as it is popularly known), which in turn houses the 4 diverse properties. Under a new marketing and consolidation strategy adopted by them, they wanted the earlier RRPL online property to be made into its brands as separate entities –each with its own identity and domain. This essentially meant having 6 online properties for their properties, each becoming a promotional and interactive domain on its own across online social communities and patronage.

WHAT THEY NEEDED.

Bacchus simply had to be the online presence as a music destination and a community watering hole which would be the benchmark for similar enterprises. It had to represent the vibrancy and the faint echo of  “ good times waiting to be explored and memories to be shared” ethos of the place, in a pleasing yet grungy palette. As the known destination of alternate music and art performances in Bangalore, music also was an equally important denominator in the sum of things that constituted the online entity called Bacchus.

WHAT WE OFFERED.

Having been associated with the brand since inception and in tune with its formative curve over time, conditionsapply knew exactly the requirements of an enterprise that aims to be the  pioneer in music, food and entertainment at this point of their growth curve. We suggested making the entire use of tools that help consolidate and grow the offline community of Bacchus online, integrating the most popular online social communities, design an environment based around the online presence that also seamlessly integrated the social communities, a unique signature music repository of the kind of music played at Bacchus, all these in a scale never employed before  for a food industry enterprise.

WHAT WE DELIVERED.

The final cut of Bacchus is the equivalent of what  one of the regulars in Bacchus aptly described as “ my perfect watering – hole online.” The current activities and offers were displayed in a way that was funky, cool and in a highly custom-enabled design.The most popular social networking community on the planet, Facebook was seamlessly integrated into the site, even with chat and comment features enabled on your Facebook account while lounging at the Bacchus site! The online music repository has turned to be a feature that we hear is being replicated amongst its peers online places in the city! A sleek on-the-fly updation feature makes sure that any event put together by the team is out in the community in a speed beyond belief – with ample time for discussion and preparation. All this, in a funky design structure and the best CMS available,have truly made Bacchus, the pioneer amongst its peers online, again!

VISIT BACCHUS ON THE WEB .

Times have changed. It was a different ball game when the planet’s first ( and probably the most brilliant) marketing guy harped on the vanity of the fairer sex, peddling a red, shiny fruit as the cure to all ills, physical and emotional in the garden of Eden. The soliciting was upfront and personal. As products and variety increased and evolved, mediums evolved with them. Newsprint evolved to ether. Remember the days when television was the most used advertising medium? It graduated to a judicious mix of the two, but it has become increasingly difficult to focus with the literal explosion of the mediasphere that now straddles newsprint and TV in the physical media and the Web in the virtual space.

Information has now become the most prized commodity on the planet, an entity which is intangible and defy the normal yardsticks of “conventional, measurable effectiveness.” Information translates to content, and the primary benefactor has become the one who is empowered by it in the first place – be it the producer or the consumer. Whoever has the information before his peer, on either side of the table, has the edge.

But there lies the mismatch. The avenues of dissemination of this ‘information’ have become so obtuse, disjointed and fragmented, and naturally, the end user is faced with half-baked, recycled or half-truths all masquerading as Information. It becomes much more difficult when it comes to the producers of goods or services. The highly fragmented content consumption and a globally connected human race, is making this closely knit ecosystem is learning, evolving and doing things by itself like an artificial intelligent system.

Does it have a pattern or is it evolving as a result of a million different cohesive actions and reactions that is taking place with in? Internet behemoths and businesses or all sizes are trying to understand this and are trying to keep pace with this giant self evolving organism.

Traditional approach of approaching a marketing requirement and seeing it through its execution is receiving strong resistance from the audience/consumer. There is a need for companies who have have sound awareness and skills across multiple areas such as business, creativity , technology etc to be able to understand, capture and deliver client requirements in the most effective manner. There is a need to break away from the existing silos and adapt to form a unified service methodology. This part of coming out of the existing comfort zones will be the crucial part to offer more meaningful services to clients. It is high time your clients started getting more, for their expectation and trust in you.

There is a need to relearn marketing and there is a need to look at the entire marketing approach in a whole new way.

Enter Integrated Service from *conditionsapply.

*conditionsapply as an expression is surely going places.

ONE : Conditions Apply as an English play, written  and directed by Vikranth Pawar, with Darshan Jariwala and Mandira Bedi representing the urban nightmare of our times through the two protagonists, aptly named ‘Man’ and “Woman.’

Read more about the play and the interpretation that they find behind this ’sign of our times’ here.

TWO : Conditions Apply as a poignant  and strong message for the scourge of our times.

The term also became a deeply meaningful and profound message in the battle against AIDS, raising awareness and understanding in the Middle East through this tongue-in-cheek public service message brought out by the Muscat Adsters on World AIDS Day, December1, 2009.

View the message here.

Its so gladdening to see the different perspectives that arise from a term, primarily meant to serve as an anticipatory bail plea by the mandarins of the “new- free-world- trade-enterprise!”

When we set  about providing online solutions for the planet, we  wanted to do with a touch of humor. Quite wicked, when you come to think about it. *conditionsapply was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the blatant misuse of strictures and clauses with which  service providers gagged their very own customers whom they snagged in with their initial marketing spiel ( smart copy and ambiguous service descriptions). It has come to be a moniker of the economic boom that we lived through and witness its eventual hospitalization ( subtle hint : Lehman Brothers), and had  boomeranged on the very people who thought they could mess up our lives with a perceived and false sense of new market enterprise. So much so, there was hardly an advertisement across any media that did not carry the footnote that shone with that  quiet menace which simply meant ” In the end, you will have only yourself to blame if things go horribly wrong in this transaction. You were warned.”

Which ever smart aleck who thought this term up as a way to absolve the provider in case of mangled transactions, yet was devious enough to let the whole truth be told upfront would have never even in his/her wildest dreams realise the possibilities of it coming back as a sword to haunt the provider in pure poetic irony! ( They even made a theater play out of it now!) .

It was also the very same reason that made us pick this ’sign’ of the times and stand it on its head that made people smile with the seemingly mischievous way we put our point across. Our tenacity, rigor and effort to extend our range of services that only spoke about “conditions that applied in your favor”, is slowly  bringing  about a marked change in the way the online support and design systems work to create online solutions for people.

We say this because we have come across clients, mostly veterans and leaders in their trade in the offline marketplace been swindled (that is strong, but that is the truth), lied to and ripped off  in their efforts to set up their online representations of their businesses and had a very ’scary outlook’ on the dynamics of the whole process. They still couldn’t keep themselves away from the power of the web and the financial benefits that could be reaped off it, and they contacted conditionsapply through their peers who have interacted with us.

As you treat their business and their online requirements with honesty, efficiency and forthrightness, it results in relationships that go just beyond a simple business transaction in design and delivery.

It results in conditions that apply in your favor, and it applies to parties on both side of the table.

That, in short, is the meaning of the new smile behind the term *conditionsapply.

CLIENT :  JUPITER LEYS PVT LTD.

INDUSTRY :  OLEORESINS & SPICE OILS.

Jupiter Leys based out of Kochi, Kerala is globally one of the largest supplier in natural spice-based products that include Oleoresins and Essential Oils. Jupiter Leys has a long and proud business tradition in agro-based products that spans two decades in the domestic market. For a market leader and player in tune with the power of the digital medium, Jupiter Leys  wanted their online presence to reflect the vibrant and dynamic nature of the company and its products.

WHAT THEY NEEDED.

Jupiter Leys  wanted an online presence that would cut above the clutter of online presences of their peers who ended up saying the ‘same thing with the same set of pictures.’ They needed an online representation that would more or less ‘radiate’ the vibrant nature of their business, and rather than being passive, have a place that is lively, active and updated. They also wanted a smart way to position their products on the digital showcase without being ‘in the face’, yet have a very high degree of prominence, and clearly speak about the product range.

WHAT WE OFFERED.

*conditionsapply recommended a unique structure that brought about the vibrancy and the global reach of the product range with a color palette never used before by their peers. *conditionsapply, in addition to its distinct design strengths of brevity and clarity, also suggested an interactive forum that discussed, expressed the latest happenings and trends of the trade, which also ensured relevance and engagement.

WHAT WE DELIVERED.

*conditionsapply managed to deliver an online business representation of Jupiter Leys that exceeded the design and ease of use exponents initially offered to Jupiter Leys. The brilliant use of a vivid and dynamic opening page ensured interest,curiosity,engagement and recall. By using effective SEO techniques in coding and content, we made a website that will work for them rather than just throw information at the prospective client. Content was created after careful research and usage of keywords which also enriched the site and made it a powerful frontrunner in the online marketplace for Spice Oils and Oleoresins.

VISIT JUPITER LEYS ON THE WEB .

With the commoditisation of two way communication over the new age media, the distance between people reduced by folds. Both web and mobile phones brought people together in a way where ideas, suggestions, conversations flow seamlessly. While the mainstream media was watching in bewilderment, people were listening to each other than to the brands and media houses.  All of a sudden people were least bothered about who is a brand’s ambassador or how good a brand promotion was. The ability of such promotions to create new customers, generate extra revenue or to retain existing customers is deteriorating. As a knee jerk reaction and in the fear of not doing enough in a highly competitive and crowded place, brands started spending even more on main stream promotions and campaigns, only to see their money being sucked away by traditional advertising giants.

Today it does not matter how superb your creative is, how powerful your copy is or how much money you spent on that AV. Today people chat, connect via email, social media and mobile phones to take suggestions from their friends and have access to what celebrities actually do,  than what they flaunt on a brand campaign. With all this happening, there is a shift onto the new age media for promotion and branding exercises. People do not blindly listen to brands any more. They discuss, share and connect with their friends. And this is why, it is important for you to be part of their conversation. You can be part of their conversation only if you connect with them and listen to them. Thus is born, the new way of marketing – Conversational or Customer driven marketing.

We all grew up watching advertisements of different scales and statures. Creative and promotional strategies which where earlier built on sheer talent,  later turned out to be based on scientific patterns. One had to study and learn about customer behavior, interest, marketing philosophies before getting qualified enough to design and execute marketing plans for brands and businesses. Any marketing or business executive’s curriculum contains case studies which form a crucial part of their learning material. These case studies were built on the media landscape which prevailed at that time, which was mostly print, TV, billboards etc.

Then came the web. Advertisers jumped onto web to capitalize the new platform, where they could probably target the users and stream advertisements and even measure their level of engagement on their advertisement. There was a great level of excitement and the age old way of advertising still applied good even with the introduction of web. Till here, the promotion and communication was happening one way. What we call as a dictating or instructional style of marketing.

How ever the game changed when Web 2.0 came in. Web 2.0, in simple words, is an interactive web. People can upload content and the exchange became two way rather than just one way. Engagement and interactive communication was born. With this came the demise of horizontal portals and content aggregators, as content was freely flowing across the web, making almost any passive content obsolete. Today, every internet user has the power to create content which makes every body a publisher and producer. People have started exchanging and interacting with each other in lightning speed. Communication had changed once and for all to an altogether different game. Traditional media planners and creative agencies who often function at high costs and churn out campaigns at exorbitant costs are still trying to figure out why their campaigns are not working the way they used to.

So, here are some thoughts that merit a much more extensive discussion.

How exactly has the media and communication industry changed?

What do you need to do to keep pace or catch up?

We will discuss this in our coming posts.

In my previous articles on web presence, I tried to explain some basic facts about the advantages of having a web presence and few things to remember while getting that done. With the web becoming  more of a social and user friendly medium, a notion has set in, that any one who can type an e-mail can make a website. This premise is the number one causative for the bizarre  client – demands faced by  web site and online solution developers. Clients approach web development firms with a huge list of features and requirements and expect to get the job done for shamefully low prices, if not free. I have had clients say, ” we can change the theme in MySpace, why can’t I have the same feature in my website for free?” The list of their arguments is interestingly long and very funny, if you have it in you to give it to them back in their same currency.

One important fact to remember when you approach a web developer or a web management company for their services, is to acknowledge the fact that they know that job better than you. That is the reason why he is investing his time and money on that business, while you are doing that on yours. By pushing your developer or agency to a tight spot can impact you negatively than save you any money. The more you push them, the more they become reluctant in suggesting better ideas and features which can help you achieve the best out of your web presence. It makes me feel that it is precisely this behavior from clients that force some developers and firms to get too aggressive on their pricing, in an effort to safe guard themselves from these kind of assault from their clients.

The small video below captures the feeling in a very humorous way.

Click here to view the embedded video.