Idea accha tha magar..

Being a 'brand manager' is no easy thing. You have to eat, drink and sleep thinking about your brand. Bad enough. You also have to keep thinking about how to make others think about your brand as often as possible.

Which means pasting your logo and branding everywhere.

In what must surely be described as an 'innovation' in someone's CV Britannia has decided to advertise its bread on the handcarts of Mumbai's famous sandwichwallahs. So far so good.



But please note that the sandwich guy still prefers Modern bread. Kind of like Sridevi endorsing Lux and then using an expensive firang soap.

Advice to Britannia: Figure out how to get your bread used at those stalls. Perhaps offer a discounted steady supply?

Idea accha tha magar magic always lies in the implementation.

Ideas are everywhere

We tend to think of ideas as the preserve of some special class of people or 'ideators'. But they are everywhere and in everyone.

This little stall selling ice golas at Linking Road, Bandra, stopped me in my tracks yesterday. As they say, "Sirjee - what an Idea!"



Ice golas are one of the most satisfying summer experiences one can have. But like most middle class Indians I have been conditioned to avoid them. Because of the generally suspect quality of the ice.

So this 'mineral water ice' is a great idea. But what makes this ice gola haathgadi a 'must visit' is the google-inspired branding. It's so witty and well executed you say to hell with my sore throat: "I gotta try it".



Please do note the attention to detail...



As for the gola itself - I tried my favourite kala khatta and what can I say? It's good but nothing out of the ordinary. An additional hygiene factor with 'Gogola' is that it comes with a plastic straw instead of wooden tinka.


But see the premium I happily paid - thirty bucks! - for a 'brand' rather than a commodity. There's a lesson in it for all of us in there.

If you've seen anything interesting in streetfood and have written/ blogged about it let me know and I'll share it here:)