*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.

Some times you don’t need an elaborate website with a lot of features. You just need a domain registered, have email addresses created and be able to start your business at the earliest.You can choose from our collection of websites and with some customization to suit your brand and color preferences, we can take your new site live, within 72 hours after your domain is activated.This works excellent for you;

• If all you need is a site with some information regarding your business and contact information.

• A basic site, till you want to scale it up at a later stage.

• A quick online presence which is critical for your business.

It is a simple process:

• You tell us your requirement.
• We offer you our collection of templates.
• You pick one and agree on the cost.
• If you already have your domain booked, we host it on receiving 50% of the agreed total cost.
• We can suggest you domain names, keeping user behavior and brand appeal in mind and register them for you.
• Host your domain and create email addresses for you.
• We customize the selected design to suit your requirement.
• Once your domain is active, we take your site live.

Our technical team have their hands calloused and well-worn, working on various platforms, developing applications and online solutions for some of the giants in the internet space. We understand how much it takes to create a great design. It requires more than just time. In today’s competitive space, clients approach you for an end-to-end service. That is where we step in to help you. You can focus your mind and energy in creating that design for your client and we do the boring part of coding.

It’s a simple process:

• You collect the requirement from your client and contact us.
• We discuss the client’s requirement in detail and decide on the platform and features.
• We decide on a price and partnership model and get to work straight away, on receiving the advance towards the project.
• You create the design and send us the final design in PSD format.
• We create the domain, host it and create email addresses for the client.
• Once the site is ready we demo it on our demo environment.
• The site is taken live as soon as we receive the rest of the payment.

Through this partnership, you get more business and can focus on doing what you are best at.

We understand that websites are not cosmetic showpieces. They should work for you. An online representation of your business should help you meet your objective of increasing your business and reach. Along with promoting you or your company as a brand, it should also help you in achieving your desired outcome. That is why we work with you in custom designing a site that will work for you. We are definitely not into the business of making sites that are just good to look at. We give importance to the functionality of the site by incorporating classy designs. Our sites and online solutions are beautiful, user and search engine friendly. Our experience in social media and customer driven marketing along with strong technical know how is at your disposal. Go through our bouquet of services to see how we can be of help to you.

There are more than 32 Million internet users in India and more than 1 Billion users worldwide.That should give you a perspective on how much you can harness this powerful medium, to your favour.At *conditionsapply, we help you with cutting edge online solutions which would enliven, engage and empower you online. An easy to use, effective, search engine optimized, online presence is an essential part of today’s business. Our services create conditions in your favor that go on to make you a Winner – Online and Offline.We will work with your business, marketing and technical teams to define a clear web and media strategy and executable plan that enhances your business, marketing, sales and business goals.

We are a group of Dreamers with a collective experience of more than 40 years in Hospitality, Customer Service, Aviation, Media, Technology and Advertising.This diversity and domain knowledge,we feel, is our greatest strength in this business of creating virtual worlds that work! We speak a language you understand,we listen more, and acknowledge every single advertisement in Print and Visual Media these days that seem to carry our brand name with a tongue-in-cheek smile.

Our team consists of Dreamers, Dream Merchants, Dream Weavers and Dream Catchers. Those are our official designations because we believe that is what we do, online.
We do not have CEOs,CFOs and COOs, or for that matter Wall Street Stocks,Lear Jets and Serious Behavioral Issues.

*conditionsapply is a brand of Foonza Media Pvt Ltd