HOW ONE FAT FROG SHOOK THE WORLD'S STOCK MARKET

The marketing manager was scratching his head. Getting wet in the rains, he was still wondering what he should do, to increase the sales of his mosquito coils thru innovative means. The competition was tough, and peneration into already existing segments was hard as good as chewing a steel burger. As he walked thru the puddles, and inching towards his office, his sights fell on a fat big frog- who, in one split second, swallowed 3 large dengue mosquitoes. Gulp...burrpppp...the frog exclaimed.The marketing manager was simply in awe of this frogs technique, skill, speed and effectiveness. He went upto the big fat frog and said- hey bugger, will u be open to a business proposal? Will you be ready to join hands on a big mission? Frog, didnt bother too much- as his lightening tongue slithered in and out and downed 5 more flies. MMMmmmmmm he said- so what's the deal, sirjee? Wah plan and what proposal. Please elaborate. No hidden clauses and all- i hope- and no false promises of a princess kissing me and marrying me and shit. The maager said- Oh no- all in black n white- on paper- a legal MOU. Are you by any chance missing 2 letters in that word- is it mouse' that u said- or....Nooooo quipped the manager , MOU means Memorandum of understanding. Ahhhh said the fat one. Ok, tell me the deal.

Here's he offer: Buy one mosquito coil, get one pet frog free. That's the revolutionary offer i want to announce in the market. Going by Goodnites, All-out, and Tortoise coils, i have to be different. Radically different. And to make this offer happen, i will need millions of you, frogs, to go to buyers homes...customers will lap up this offer, and plus they will have all round security from mosquitoes and other flying pests....since you guys would be taking over. The fat frog thought about it for a minute and said- but what's in it for me?? Manager explained- see normally nobody allows you inside the house, right? Here. im making you an integral part of my brand, and you frogs will piggyback on, and inside. Once they get used to this double deal, its a completely new market, an we reach an impregnable position. Competition also wont be able to replicate this offer, as you frogs would come under one umbrella and one mou- unless, of course they import frogs from china- which in any case not possible, coz from china, even if they import frongs, they would all be leg-less. Legs are the bigest delicacy- u know, in in China. The fat one, bent over, in an attempt to look at his own legs, but he couldnt. His belly wouldnt give him that view.

The fat frog said; Gime some time to internalise this proposal, brainstorm with my team, give them a download of ur proposal; I'l get back to you in a days time. Manager said- and as fa as you are concerned- as the CEO of frogs, you will be assigned only duty at some royal places- maybe Vijay mallayas bunglow, or at Antilla- Ambani's. Mmmmmm...said the fat frog, and splashed back in water.

On the table, now the talks proceeded and finally, after almost 3 hours of croaking, both the parties signed the deal.The manager fixed up a day and date, when he would announce this offer, and how he is going to release full page ads in TOI and HT and MId-Day, and started working out the budgets. The frog meanwhile, took help of a retired logistics manager and worked out the end-to-end chain- and also finalised which frogs will be assigned which area. For instance, the Gujju frogs were to go in gujarati areas and the marathi croacking frogs would go to areas like dadar. The south indian frogs were assigned the areas of sion and matunga, where there is prime concentration of south indians. The methodism was- every time a customer buys a coil, a frog will jump and sit on the pack- of course, frog will have a branded jacket and all.

The entire market was taken by storm, the world press, Harvard, Wharton, Time, google- the marketing managers unique idea was all over the place. He became an overnight sensation,across the business world, and now, jetting across the world, with obscene offers and partnership poposals in his poket. He left the company be run by his juniors and as it is, the entire system was all in place, so no worries no cares.

Meanwhile, at the other end, frogs had been acccepted as pets all over, and became quite friendly in homes where they were stationed.The fat frog also became a millionaire, and now, he never used to catch flies or mosquitoes- he simple ordered tinned cans and fried pest delicacy from where else- China. He became arrogant, and vain, and started bossing over. At his end, he tied up with some language institutes to train frogs in foreign languages as, the company was looking into overseas expansion also. Urgent passports, UID cards, etc were arranged for those who were selected for an overseas posting. Back home, the fat frog started dictating terms to our marketing manager- started asking for hard cash, overtime, 2 holidays per week, etc. Some idiculous proposals. The manager, dint have any option but to agree to this- since this was his most precious USP.

It was evening time and a swarm of mosquitoes decended on Mr. Bhatnagar's house- incidentally he was the CEO of Totoise coils, and yet, even he was using the frog brand coils at home- as it really worked. And he was in all awe of this idea very much, regretting why he dint think of it. As he just relaxed in his couch, the power lines snapped, and there was complete darkness. He got up, lit a candle, and then, searched for frog-brand coils. But there was none. Ahh- tonight mosquitoes are going to have a good time doing blood taste sampling- he mumbled and went off to sleep. Sometime around mid-night he woke up, only to see that though there were no coils, the frog on duty was simply too good and was gulping down mosquitoes like a Toyota Fortuner drinks petrol. He had a eureka moment- and out he was in his driveway, as he summoned all his main brand managers for a midnight urgent meeting. Pajama meeting. What he said, and what insight he shared left everybody stunned.

Within 24hours, frog brand coil had an internal revolt, half the frogs didn't report for duty, some of them simply slept on duty- and shirking their main job completely. It was like a majority defection- just like how the Shiv Vada Pav stalls recently defected- 150 of them- to Nitesh Rane's vad pav union. It was simply a masterstroke from tortoise coil's CEO. Overnight shares of frog brand collapsed, the logistics chain got disrupted, sales dipped, Nasdaq, Nikkei, LSE - everywhere, the rings were on fire. Before the Frog brand guy could be reached at his private Hawaain resort, the entire company collapsed. By the time, he returned, all the frogs, all the coils, and the entire business went into the dumps.

What had incidentally happened was- the tortoise brand CEO realised one thing- that candlelit night- that even without the coils, the frogs were just enough to carry on the duty 100 percent. So, all he did was he simply bought over the loyalties of the fat frog, made him stake holder and partner in a new vertical, and overnight, set up a new brand- a stand alone brand- frogzz- the ultimate killer. It was a win-win situation for frogs as well as the tortoise coil brand. As both earmarked territories for themselves- exclusive marketing and distribution rights and pockets that each will own.

No new major activation or advertising was needed- it was a smooth transition all the way, and both brands went in for co-opetition approach rather than competition.

All the expansion plans went through, and it became the top brand of the world within no time. Meanwhile, even today, you will spot that marketing manager standing near the same puddle ( coz potholes in Bombay are forever) and waiting and wishing for another miracle and another insight. From that small puddle of water- all he does is go to the nearest watering hole, and drinks to glory. 24 hours.

Moral of the story: Depends who you are- where you are- and what your business plans are.