How old is your Marketing Head?

It is said that Facebook has started to lose its sheen in the West, it is, however, performing exceedingly well in countries like India, Brazil and other Asian, African and some European countries.

Increasing internet penetration in India and lucrative Facebook features have led to rise in adoption of Facebook for social networking amongst web users. In India the social media giant has amassed 92 million users, which is now the 2nd highest after the U.S, according to Facebook’s own data.

The most interesting fact however, in all these numbers is that :

Teens Aged 18-24 Account For 50% Of Total Facebook Users In India!

Of the total 92 million (7.73% of the total user-base) Facebook users in India, nearly 50% belong to the age group 18-24 years.

Facebook, at an infancy stage in India, finds it's biggest follower in teens who find it exciting and are very active in Facebook. Nearly 11% or 10.6 million Facebook users in India are aged below 17, about 26 million (28% of total Facebook India population) fall in the age group of 25-34. Close to 6.6 million are between 35-44 years, 2.2 million between 45-54 years and the rest above 55 years.

India is also the youngest country in the world in terms of its population's average age which is between 25 and 29 years. With almost 65% of the population under less than 30 years we have, therefore, 65% of all consumers who are less than 30 years!

But how old is the man who is the Marketing Head or the Brand Head in your organization? Does he understand what a 21 year old gizmo freak, digital age, instant gratifying, fickle Indian wants to get from you that would either simplify his life or stimulate his intellectual wisdom? Nope! I am not recommending a 21 Year old Marketing Head. 

Want to know more? Write to me at susmita@thesmartideas.in 

How to be Creative - Quick Tips!

I couldn't but help myself from putting this post together.

Got to know about a very interesting book : "Imagine: How Creativity Works" written by journalist Jonah Lehrer. Lehrer has actually helped to disseminate what scientists know about creativity. In fact, in March 1st week, 2012 Wall Street Journal, his article “How to be creative” took up the entire front page of Section C and another full page inside the section.

Let’s take a quick look at Lehrer’s “10 Quick Creativity Hacks” from the WSJ article.

1.       When you’re in a blue room, you’re more creative.

2.      You’re more creative when you’re a bit groggy.

3.      People who daydream more score higher on creativity tests.

4.      If you imagine yourself as a 7-year-old, you have more ideas.

5.      Watching a comedy video makes you more creative just afterwards.

6.      If you think the creativity puzzles come from another country or state, rather than your own local university, you’re more creative.

7.       Use more generic verbs to describe your challenge.

8.      If you sit next to a box (but not in it) you’re more creative.

9.      Students who’ve lived abroad are more creative.

10.   When people move to a bigger city they become more creative.

It’s true that these 10 tips are based in research studies. But it’s good to be a bit skeptical, because most of the studies used paper-and-pencil creativity tests that have only a limited relationship to real-world creativity. It makes me think of a study published a couple of years ago that found that if you stare at the Apple logo, you score higher on a creativity test than people who stare at the IBM logo. Does anyone really believe that simply looking at an Apple will make you more creative in any meaningful way? Not me.

Successful creativity results from hard work over a long period of time, from a systematic and deliberate process that raises the ratio of success to failure. Lehrer knows this too, of course.