How to create your Brand-The Rakhi Sawant way

Update : I have intentionally put this update at the top. I have got a lot of people who have made comments on this article, no don’t look at the comments section, but to me personally on mail and calls, that they were not happy with this article. Let me be clear; I thoughtfully chose a topic which had a clear sarcasm in it. Rakhi Sawant is a gossip material and that’s what this article is meant to. In NO WAY do I promote the methodologies adopted by her to promote herself . The reading should be treated as things NOT TO BE DONE if you are a marketing or a branding person. For others the post is a pure fun to read.

I know I may be hated by the readers by writing about it, but believe it or not we can learn a lot of things from the Drama Queen.

All, ohk probably most, of us want to be a brand and become famous but are not able to do so. We have the skills but seeing this recent talk of the town I guess we have a point or two to learn.

First and the foremost thing is that talent alone is not the sole criteria, its publicity that plays a major role that will make you famous. Skill is a necessary condition but it is definitely not the sufficient condition. In my previous post I wrote about marketing your talent. Yes, that’s a very important point but I want to take your eyes to the tactic that Rakhi has used and used it better than enyone else. Get media publicity the WRONG way. Hardly people knew that the girl who did a couple of music videos and few movie item songs was Rakhi Sawant. But now, she’s a household name. Sometimes we have enough talent but don’t get the right/enough opportunities to show it. She made use of every opportunity. If I am not wrong, she shot into fame with the Mika Kiss Scandal. Got publicity on all those news channels who have more masala than news and eventually got more dance offers from movies and got a few TV reality show appearances as well.  Mission Accomplished I would say.

Result : Gets famous in a day all of a sudden, rules news channels for a week or so and in some cases gains public sympathy as well as anyone who cries on screen can easily get some emotional Indians sympathise her.

Second, if you can’t win, cry Cheating ! Everyone admitted that she was a good dancer, but when she was ousted on public voting in a reality show, she cried foul over the organizers claiming that the “votes were tampered”.

Result: Even though people like me who didn’t watch the show came to know about her and her dancing skills as it was again on all the masala-cum-news channels. Dancing skills proven, she starts getting more dancing offers in films, shows and no wonder her bank balance skyrocketed. Ofcourse she was famous by now !

Then comes third step and rather a mindblowing one. As people have a short memory and tend to forget things quickly, she comes with an ulmitate move, setting up a Swayamvar for herself. Marrying a person on a reality show! Who would think of that ? Are you Nuts , was my first reaction when I first heard of the show. Man, can you believe it ?  I don’t know whether it was all framed or real but bottomline is that the show managed to even get NRI’s to fight the others to marry her.  And guess what, the NRI wins ! Not sure whether the marriage will actually take place or not and the fact is who cares.

Result : Purpose of the show is solved. The show gets high TRP’s, especially because there were no cricket matches around the time of show being aired. Initially I also refrained from the show, but once when I saw it, I just couldn’t stop laughing. It was meant to be serious and emotional but it turned out to be absolutely foolish and idiotically funny and which was why even I watched it. But what surprised me more was that when I got back to work, logged into twitter, there were people who were updating about the show. News results all over the place. Ofcourse the masala-news channels had BREAKING NEWS. HAHA, I guess these news channels would run outta money if they don’t show this stuff. Everyone watched the show for various reasons and talking about her as well. Positive or negative but the point is SHE GOT PUBLICITY. I wonder what will up in those newspapers, but I guess being in Bangalore I can assume they won’t give her more than a small 5th or 6th page column.

Whatever ways she adopts, bottomline is she gets famous each time and does not let people forget her. Quoting a friend who just updated his facebook status which reads :

Rakhi sawant is a real celebrity , Hilton beware rakhi is coming, A real drama queen at it’s best on NDTV imagine ! don’t miss it

Update 1 : Latest news is that she even made it to the twitter trending topics.  http://bit.ly/12VWH1

Update 2 : Over 15 million watched ‘faisle ki raat’  http://bit.ly/1YfZ31

Things we can learn from Rock On!

Some times even movies can teach us a lot. Probably everyone of us has seen the movie ROCK ON, here are some things which I thought we can learn from it.

1. Talent must be MARKETED, if properly shown to relevant people, it can reach new levels and set new benchmarks. (Joe, a great guitarist, does not want to tell people and give auditions)  If people don’t see your talent, how will they value it ?

Arjun RampalRock On
Market Yourself

2. What we’ve learnt must be shared with others and must not end if we end, it must go on. A true leader always always creates a 100 more leaders (Joe and KD started a business of nurturing new talent) .

Rock On Arjun Rampal_Promote new talent
Promote new talent

3. We all make mistakes but the point is do we learn from our mistakes and move on keeping in mind that we won’t make the same mistake again. (Joe realized that Aditya was not wrong, it was the situation and the circumstances that made him feel so,  which he understood and came back).

Rock On_Magik reunited for that second chance
Magik reunited for that second chance

4. Life does not offer a second chance to everyone, but if that chance is given do we grab it with both hands ? I guess most of us let that chance go ! (Magik grabbed that chance and performed once again on stage, and I don’t need to say that it did remarkably well).

5. Money is not the only criteria to be successful and happy in life. (Aditya is very successful and has everything in life what an ideal person would want to, but was Aditya happy living that life? All of us know the answer, there are other things in life that are important in life to keep us happy.

Rock On Farhan Akhtar_Criteria for success - Money?
Criteria for success – Money?

6. You must set your priorities right, there are a 100 different things to do for everyone at an given point of time, it’s WE who have to take that correct decision based on the importance. (Rob could have met that producer whom Anu Malik wanted to meet him, but he knew his priorities – Magik).

Rock On Magik compromise_Learn to Compromise
Learn to Compromise

7. We all have to make compromises in life at some stage, we should LEARN do that, sometimes a successful compromise can take us a long journey (Had Magik completed their first album according to the director’s needs, the album being a HIT, they would have dictated terms from the next album, unfortunately, they DIDN’T) .

Rock On Farhan and Arjun_Learn to forgive
Learn to forgive

8. Sometimes even our “bestest” friends do something bad to us, but they don’t do it intentionally, we should find out the reasons, and best part is FORGIVE them. No point in carrying a heavy heart all through your life. Needless to say, your friend should be worth the forgiveness.

Rock On Farhan, Arjun, Purab_Friends Forever
Friends Forever

9. Best friends are forever, no matter how good or bad the times we face, real friends will always be at your side.

10. When resources are less and we really need something. that’s the time when we have be INNOVATIVE (Magik really needed the money and Aditya was innovative enough to sing old songs with Rock Touch).

Rock On Dandiya_Learn to innovate
Learn to innovate

Last but the most important point, Live your Dreams ! Someone has correctly said

Dreams are not those which you see while asleep, but they DON’T let you sleep

In order to ROCK ON, you must have a Dream !

Rock On Dreams_Live your dreams
Live your dreams

Well, those are the things I learnt, it’s not an exhaustive list, probably you can something more. Drop in your learnings in the comments section. Highly appreciated.

Its your Life, Make it Large

Last night an old friend of mine came to meet me. He is also doing B.Tech from the UPTU University. For a change, we were discussing our future plans and he, just as any other guy said, “I will go for an MBA”. When my turn came, I said “I do not know “, much to his and may be your surprise.

I joined RKGIT in 2004 in the Computer Science department. At that moment even I had the same plans, start my preparations from the second year itself, crack the CAT in the final year. Then obviously join an IIM and come out with flying colors with a big, fat package which, would help me make rest of my life luxurious. As time has progressed so have my thoughts. Now, my heart or my mind, for that matter, does not allow me go for the MBA or M. Tech or an MS. It says only to “Be Different”.

India’s population is increasing each second and in equal proportion are increasing the number of engineers that are graduating. The IT industry has boomed like anything and this boom is going to last for many more years. Everyone is getting jobs and once that is done they think they are through and settled. I know most of you might be thinking “YES” that’s what I have come here for! But in the real sense, ask yourself, “Is that what you came on earth for? Is the job you are getting, or going to get in near future, your aim in life? Or Getting through CAT or GATE and securing a 10 or 20 lac package your sole aim in life? Maybe some of you might be thinking of going to the US or the UK and then minting money there?” Well, some or maybe most of you might be answering in “yes”. But is that the goal of your life? My answer is a definite NO. That’s not what you are destined for.

If you have answers for the previous questions then let me put up the next question, “Why would or maybe should God waste time in creating lacs of similar human beings and that too in a single country forget about other countries? Is He a fool?” I am sure He isn’t.

He sends all of us on earth with some mission to accomplish and mind it, that mission is unique for everyone. He sends us messages, many times in our life, to make us remember that mission. It’s only a matter of time when we read His sms.

This uniqueness of yours which I am talking about can be found by your own self. Yes, each one of us is different in someway or the other. It’s only a matter of time when we discover our hidden talent and perform to our capabilities and find our true potential. Some one is good at art, other at music, a third one technically and the fourth at administration. Who knows you might be the next Bill Gates or Shiv Khera or a Kalam for that matter. It’s only a question of time. All you have to do is to keep searching for the uniqueness that makes your personality, the personality which will make your identity.

I have read his message and I want all of you, through this piece of text, get His memo. Try to do something unique, something new, something innovative, something that will make you happy from the inside. After all you don’t want to read this message when you are 80 odd years old.

It’s totally up to you, what you want to do in life. Get lost in the crowd or make your mark. “It’s your wish, you can be forgotten or you remembered as one of those noble few who MADE IT”. You decide what you want to be and let not others decide your fate. Try to rule the world and not get ruled by others. My advice to all of you is to start following your dreams and forget about the rest. Just try to be distinguishable and think or more importantly DO something that makes you and your well wishers proud of.

I guess you must have got the essence of my talks. After all “It’s your life, so why not make it large??? “

Was originally posted on my wordpress blog before i moved it here.