GENRE : INFORMATION & NEWS PORTAL FOR A NICHE GROUP

Bhasha News Media is a start-up social enterprise launched by a team of experienced journalists to transform the way knowledge is managed and shared in the development sector.

WHAT WE DELIVERED.
Bhasha News Media , a start-up social enterprise  to transform the way knowledge is managed and shared in the development sector, is in itself  a unique initiative in Indian media, and more so in the online media. Bhasha Media also powers UTTOR, a fortnightly livelihoods-based newspaper which services the information needs of disadvantaged population groups in parts of eastern India. Uttor was conferred the UNFPA-LAADLI Media Award for Gender-Sensitivity for Best Feature Series.*conditionsapply was able to make an online presence that effectively served the dissemination of UTTOR as a newsletter through an extremely effective platform called Bhasha News Media, which in itself  is a news and information sharing portal with a pay-to-read module integrated which in totality completes the vision of the niche media start-up.

VISIT BHASHA NEWS MEDIA ON THE WEB .

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 !

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.

GENRE : SCHOOL ALUMNI / COMMUNITY

The Meeting Place for the Mighty Kazhaks, the Class of 1990, Sainik School, Kazhakootam, created to unite, inform, involve and keep the batch together.

WHAT THEY  WANTED :
The Alumni Association of Sainik School Kazhakootam is arguably the biggest and the oldest according to its ‘Old Boys’ and each batch of students in turn find and form their own means to stay connected inside the parent Alumni Association. The Class of 1990 wanted an online meeting place that would enable them to stay connected with an entity which had both private and public online properties, yet stay in harmony with each other. It had to portray the camaraderie,  tradition, warmth and the color elements of the School, yet look graceful, stylish and sleek. And it had to seamlessly flow with the current social media entities.

WHAT WE DELIVERED :
conditionsapply designed and structured the online meeting place in a way that stayed true to its traditions and roots but was robust and quintessentially modern in its technical and usability aspects. The Photo gallery and the multi-category blog (The Kazhak Chronicles) which are updated by the members of the Class have by now become the toast of the whole Alumni Association priding close to 1000 syndicated readers.

VISIT KAZHAKS90 ON THE WEB .

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!”

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.

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 .

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.

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.

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.