'Ambush marketing' your competitors: Hyderabad billboard wars

Care Hospitals opened one of their biggest branches in Gachibowli, Hyderabad a few months back. In the midst of hundreds of ads and billboards put up by Care Hospitals all over Hyderabad, I was alarmed to see the below billboard put up by a competitor, right next to the new Care Hospitals campus.

Continental Hospitals had taken a brazen approach to rent out a prominent billboard right next to the location and has put in this tongue-in-cheek hoarding. This is unmissable for anyone taking the highway, and is all the more prominent in the night, with use of right brand colors of 'Care Hospitals' just as seen in the neon lights right behind the billboard! A classic case of ambush marketing at its unsavory best!

Hardly a few weeks later, I stumbled upon this billboard by Oakridge International school, again in the Hitech city area in Hyderabad.

I saw variants of this board in other places where ‘Pilani -or- Princeton’ was replaced by ‘Symbiosis -or- Stanford’. Seems to be a case of an 'International' school glorifying Ivy league universities abroad, while belittling their Indian ones with a similar rhyme to the name. I wonder whether they’ve also used a ‘IIT -or- MIT’ comparison somewhere!

Clearly another variant of ambush marketing that could degenerate into an ugly spat. When I googled for these, I couldn’t find any local news or mentions, and I wonder how the affected parties have reacted to these.

But if the intent of these boards was to grab attention and be talked about, they sure achieved their 'intended' purpose.

Kids day-out at the Hyderabad Zoo

A trip to the Hyderabad zoo with my kids had been a long pending one. It finally happened the past weekend. Honestly, my expectations were quite low and I didn't expect to see much or savour the trip as much. General expectations aside, this was partially due to my earlier visit to the same zoo about 10 years back. That was a father-son duo trip as well, but then it was with my father. Apart from spotting a couple of rare animals, it was a largely forgettable experience.

But, I must say the zoo surprised me last week and I was converted into a 'promoter'. Thanks to improvements over time and some major renovations last year, the zoo seems to have got a major face-lift. Things were relatively better organized, the place was clean and there was a good collection of flora and fauna, and all animals seemed to be active and in the pink of health.

The King Cobra caught in its full splendour

The top attractions I found were: white tiger, royal bengal tiger, rhino, hippo, giraffe, an impressive reptile collection including the poisonous big 4, a full section of nocturnal animals including varieties of bats, owls, cats and the porcupine.

Here are some tips on planning your visit, based on my memorable visit:

• Start early: The zoo opens at 8.30 AM and your best bet is to start your visit at that time. You would easily save 2 to 3 hours which otherwise would be wasted lining up in queues for entry or the rides. Choose weekdays if possible.
• Exit early: The zoo gets really busy after 2 PM and the last few hours (until the closing time of 5.30 PM) are unbearably crowded. On an average one needs 4 to 6 hours to cover most attractions, so exiting the afternoon is advisable.
• Go green: Plastic / use-and-throw covers are banned, and rightly so. Strangely, backpacks are not allowed, so plan to carry some normal bags. However, reusable plastic containers & boxes are allowed and there are decent places to have a picnic lunch.
• Carry light: Earlier the use of personal vehicles (cars) inside the zoo was permitted. This has been stopped of late, so one has to depend on the battery car / toy train / rented-cycles to move around. So, carry light and be prepared to walk several kilometers. Of these the battery car and rented-cycles are recommended. The jungle safari is a farce, but for kids not exposed to the wild, this is the only available local alternative.
• Choose the winters: I heard nothing but complaints from people who visited zoo in the summers, fortunately our visit was in the cooler times. In Hyderabad's sweltering summer heat, the place is arid, barren with no sign of water. The animals retreat deep into the cages and catching a good glimpse becomes tough. 

So yes, the Hyderabad Zoo is worth a visit!

A 'rocky patch' for Hyderabad's Rock structures

Hyderabad has a defining characteristic. No, I'm not talking Biryani, but the famed rock structures that dot this city. Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills are perhaps as popular as Charminar. One can find a series of undulating terrains and rocky structures not just in these localities, but pretty much throughout the city.

These charming structures would pause anyone in their tracks and make the people wonder as to how they've managed to achieve the unique balance.

Rock structure at Ghar-e-Mubarak, near Golconda Fort

Hyderabad is blessed with so many such structures and clusters of rock formations.

Rocks at BITS, Hyd (Pic: Shailesh Jain)	Balancing boulders (Pic: TribuneIndia)

The sad part of the story is that the city is fast losing these landmarks. As Hyderabad keeps getting more attractive as an investment destination and the land value goes through the roof across the city, the first casualties are these structures.

Before (A patch of land near my office)	... and After

Its a common sight to see an entire rock hillock get levelled to further commercial interests.

Check out this hillock..	..and the work in progress to level it

Khajaguda, an adventure enthusiasts favourite, and a second home to my club, GHAC (Great Hyderabad Adventure Club) is at the verge of getting wiped out. This place has hundreds of acres of fascinating rock structures. Unfortunately, this has not been spared as well, and over half of this place has already been blasted to dust.

GHAC bouldering event at Khajaguda

There are some good souls fighting for the rocks. There is the 'Save Rocks Soceity', a 20 year old organization that has been taking up the cause of rocks, and has also got few of the sites declared as heritage-rock-sites by the government, to bring them under a protective umbrella. They do a lot of awareness campaigns and events like the famed 'Hyderabad Rockathon' in partnership with GHAC.

Unfortunately, this is too little and needs more public support, financial muscle and support from the power corridors to really save Hyderabad's most popular landmarks, which are perhaps more historic than the Charminar. After all, rocks take a few thousand years to form and they are now going through a mass extinction - great structures blasted & levelled in a few seconds.

Serving delicacies on the go: your neighbourhood Superman food truck

Food trucks are the latest rage to have burst onto the Hyderabad food scene. One can find them in the evenings, in several parts of the city, quite noticeably in the areas around Hitech City and Gachibowli. Its practically a night-time 'mela' with all kinds of food trucks dotting the length of the road serving a variety of cuisine, snacks & other assortments. The rates charged though are tantamount to the QSRs (Quick Service Restaurant), and not very different. They are doing brisk business and people from all walks have taken to it with full vigour. You can find Zomato listings of food trucks and even startup apps that are built around locating food trucks in your area. 

A food truck (source:Hindu)	the busy 'eat street' in Madhapur

This has not always been the case, atleast in the southern parts of the country where, unlike Mumbai or Delhi, 'street food' was never celebrated. Food trucks used to be a 'cheaper' & 'quicker' option, but not a palatable one for most people. People had their qualms about standing and savouring these options, or atleast a stigma attached to being seen eating out in the open. Ofcourse, there have been noticeable exceptions, like the famous 'ram-ki-bandi' in Nampally area of Hyderabad, which boasts of a celebrity clientele. However, these have been few and far between and acceptance was generally low. Its nice to see this change now, for the good.

My experience with food trucks started during my Engineering days in Karaikudi, where a Chinese-cuisine serving truck aptly named 'Huang Suang' was a rage in the campus. Located in the middle of the city, this was frequented on a daily basis by the students & 'masses', but the other locals and 'classes' generally stayed away. I've continued eating 'out' through my stints in Delhi and during my travel, so we recently checked out one of these food trucks in Hyderabad. The 'Superman Dosa' truck served piping hot 'pizza dosa' and 'schezwan fry idli', while the kids enjoyed the experience!

Making healthcare solutions exciting through Design

Marketing of healthcare services is a tough nut to crack. How do you communicate complex services to a lay audience? How can healthcare problems with morbid connotations be made palatable? Even if you manage these, how do you improve engagement level and brand recall by making this exciting?

Yashoda hospital has solved this quite innovatively, through refreshing ad designs, that use:

1. Creative symbolism to simplify the complexity of problems, 
2. Terse captioning with simple words to capture the essence of solution
3. Brilliant graphic design leveraging loads of white space

The big billboard ads put up by Yashoda hospital in various parts of Hyderabad in the past months were unmissable. Check out some of the more notable ones here:

All Pictures sourced from Yashoda hospitals channels on FB, Twitter, Google+

Hyderabad Rockathon 2015

Last weekend was special, with GHAC's annual flagship event 'Rockathon'. True to its name, this is a fun outdoor event themed on rocks. In its 4th annual edition, this event has become quite popular over the years with kids and nature-outdoor enthusiasts in Hyderabad. Conducted at Ghar-e-Mubarak, close to the Golconda fort, this was co-hosted by the Hyderabad-based 'Society to save rocks', a uniqe organization that does great work in identifying and protecting the rocks by getting them declared as heritage sites.

Having heard quite a bit about this event, this was my first time and I took my family and friends along. With both my kids under-age as per the event guidelines, and with one of them young-enough and pushed around in a pram, we sure turned lots of heads around! It was a packed, fun-filled day with several activities lined up. 

We started with slack-lining, the fine art of balancing yourself and walking on a rope, the only saving grace being that the rope was tied at just 1 foot height. With adults struggling at this, the kids seemed to pick it up and do naturally; perhaps their natural instincts for outdoors are not urbanized fully yet. Rock-stacking involved creating the tallest structure by stacking up small rocks and pebbles. This provided a sneak-peak into the fascinating rock structures one sees in the city and how they could be balancing each other. And yes, our group did win a prize by building one of the tallest ones!

Slack-lining	Trail biking
Rock-stacking	...and a natural stack in formation

The treasure hunt themed around hunting for the right rock formations as given in a picture proved daunting, especially in the hot midday sun. There were several creative activities to the event's credit: rock shotput, trail-biking around the rocky terrain, a quiz to test knowledge on rocks & rock structures, and even a rock selfie contest! There was a lot of demand for zip-lining and rapelling, that was planned well and organized safely in the midst of the adjoining rocky hills. The event was complete with a workshop on snakes awareness, conducted by the popular Hyderabad-based 'Friends of Snakes' society. They demonstrated handling of non-poisonous and poisonous snakes, and provided useful tips and first-aid basics. With kids quickly developing comfort with snakes, they rushed in to touch and handle one of the less aggressive, non-poisonous varieties.

The green, tree snake	An extra-long rat snake

During the event, it was a pleasant surprise to bump into the 13-year old girl who holds world-records for climbing several tall peaks around the world, Jaahnavi. It was fascinating to learn from her father-and-guide on how Jaahnavi Sriperambuduru  started early, has persevered to set records and also about her #Mission7summit, the upcoming mission to climb all highest peaks in the 7 Continents. Wishing her luck, we signed off from the event.

Edit: Corrected typo in Jahnavi's name.

BPD: Culmination at Kolkata

(BPD: Culmination at Kolkata, 2-3 May '15)

Starting from the Bhutanese border of Phuentsholing on the 2nd May, I was headed towards Kolkata for the last leg of my journey that I had booked from Kolkata to Hyderabad, for the Sunday night. The journey from Phuentsholing to Siliguri takes about 4 hours, and its best to take the Bhutan bus that makes several scheduled trips in a day between these 2 places. Getting a little lazy to do pre-bookings and not wanting to block a time for departure, I decided to take the Indian buses and/or shared-taxis. This became yet another break journey with multiple stops and ended up taking over 6 hours on the whole. The route taken was Phuentsholing- Jaigaon- Hashimara- Birpara- Lataguri- Siliguri.

From Siliguri, I had booked a Volvo bus for the overnight journey to Kolkata. Climbing in, I was greeted at my seat in the bus by some mellowed barks and I was pleasantly surprised to find a 50-day old German Shepherd as my next seat companion! The interesting set of travel partners continued through the trip. Accompanying her was a dog-fanatic, who had just bought her at Siliguri from a dealer to add to his family of 2 other dogs, a wife and parents. He gave me a low-down of the dog breeds and how easy it is to adopt most of them and what little maintenance they can demand, from a first-timer like me.

Just as I was about to fall asleep, this last booking for a 'comfortable', event-less travel was meant to end up with some trouble. Interestingly, throughout the trip, I had absolutely no problems with any of the travel in shared modes by shared-taxi, auto, local bus and the like throughout Darjeeling, Sikkim and Bhutan. Starting with a list of issues in the Volvo bus like leaking and malfunctioning AC, a faulty battery, insensitive driver, and a bus in such a bad condition that it wouldn't start after dinner break without being pushed by the passengers! The extremely bad condition of the roads didn't help either and after long delays of over 4 hours and a mini-revolt by all the passengers, the bus finally reached Kolkata by 12 noon. Shaken and dust-gathered, I got out of the bus to the sweltering summer weather of Kolkata. Perhaps, this contrasting scenario was a gentle, yet final reminder of how well things had panned throughout my 2-week trip, for which I had to be thankful!

At Kolkata, I was getting reunited with Premjit, the buddy from college and the star of our famous Agra trip! I had a great time at his place with his family and particularly his 6-month boy, the ever-adorable Baby Bang. I was treated to a sumptuous lunch of Chelo Kababs at the famed heritage restaurant, Peter Cat at Park Street, and topped up with a masala chai at a Dhaabha nearby. Catching up with stories from the college and experiences from the company he had founded, we severely ran short of time. After the good, short stop for the evening, I got a ride to the airport to complete my return journey.

Chelo Kabab at Peter Cat (Pic source: tripadvisor)

Landing in Hyderabad, and walking towards the exit, I was welled with a range of intense emotions from the great travel experiences, amazing variety of places seen, wonderful friends made for life and the humbling learnings from the 16-day backpacking trip. I promised myself to complete writing the experiences with a picture-blog, internalize the learnings as part of my day-to-day activities and get back on the travel circuit soon!