Transumers – an emergent consumer group

Did you know that Dubai may well be catering to the largest number of Transumers (literally, “consumers in transit”) in the Middle-East, thanks to the characteristic marketing operations of Dubai Duty Free?

The term “Transumers” was coined by Fitch, a global design and business consultancy, who coined this term to describe transiting consumers at airports. Fitch are experts in making these Transumers unload their cash during the average 15-60 minute one has to indulge himself, before boarding the flight in an Airport Duty Free area. (And one would agree DDF could well be an expert in Middle East!)

According to Trendwatching.com:
TRANSUMERS are consumers driven by experiences… who increasingly live a transient lifestyle, freeing themselves from the hassles of permanent ownership and possessions. The fixed is replaced by an obsession with the current, an ever-shorter satisfaction span, and a lust to collect as many experiences and stories as possible…

The full briefing on Transumers is available for pdf download here.

There’s a particular South-East Asian community in UAE who could be one of the best examples of Transumers residing here. Their behavior matches with most of the following characteristics of Transumers:

Pleasure / freedom loving
To most consumers, travel equates to temporary freedom: Detachment, fractional ownership or no ownership at all, trying out new things, escaping commitment and obligations, dropping formality, endless new experiences.

Adopts ‘leasing lifestyle’
Transumers are likely to make use of new rental options that go beyond rent-a-car or timeshares. The reasons:

• The more stuff they own, the more are worries about repairs, going out of style, theft and so on.
• With ever shorter product cycles, leasing ensures enjoyment of the latest and the greatest.
• Instead of owning one single expensive object, it seems better to maximize the number of experiences by renting, enjoying, and disposing of many different objects.
• Resorting to luxury fractional ownership seems to be the only easy way for social climbers to flaunt status symbols.

Encourages auction culture
It empowers well-off or just obsessed-with-the new Transumers to constantly sell products bought for temporary pleasure, on to the next member! Hence it will increasingly be used to acquire temporary ownership of luxury goods – sometimes as barter too!

Indulges in Surprises
Along with freedom, Transumers also want to be surprised, moving from one ephemeral experience to another, constantly trading in “the fading” for “the blossoming”. The age of abundance has ensured that the status derived from some goods is nearly nil. Hence the only thing that remains is consumption of the thrill, the experience, the new...

Spends time in “Being (or Brand) Spaces”
Originally termed as The Third Place^*, the proliferation of Being Space or Brand Space in the transit areas of Airports, Bus and taxi terminals, etc. is making it easier than ever to leave domestic or office hassles behind.
(^*sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term in 1990 to describe dependable places of refuge, where one can escape the demands of family and bosses, and thus temporarily forget about one's sorrows and shortcomings)

Eco-Leasing Lifestyle
Love of more services and less goods, more re-use by buying and selling 2^nd hand goods, more shared ownership, etc. For example, car sharing that help people get rid of their cars altogether. Research shows that every car-share vehicle replaces 7-8 owned vehicles, since people sell their cars or decide against buying a 2^nd / 3^rd vehicle. Other eco services include: Items available for rent, etc.

Indulges in the Online World
It offers them the most ephemeral of all worlds - where new content can be sampled by the gigabytes, identities can change in a second, casual encounters are arranged within minutes etc. Perhaps they are also likely to be the first to accept virtual goods: the more time they spend online, the less need they have for expensive, fixed, hardly ever used physical goods.

Technorati :Transumers. Dubai Duty Free. UAE. Marketing. Consumer Behaviour

Powerful Powerpoint Presentations

Often during our business / working lives we keep on doing the same old ways of presenting our thoughts / proposals on those 3 x 4 size screens of Powerpoint. In the process of cramming up our presentation, we tend to forget that after all we are supposed to communicate our thoughts – not just present them!

There’s a cool site which I came across through Rowan’s Blog which offers a novel way of sharing thoughts thru online slideshows.

This site has some exciting Powerpoint tips, e.g.:

How to get your slides noticed
Balance Hearts and Minds
Title Slide Makeover
Get your title right
Your Agenda Slide
Epigrammatical

The last one, a 34 slide presentation, is a collection of aphorisms, jokes and thoughts which its author Rowan Manahan usually presents as a looped slideshow before a presentation – when invitees are arriving and taking their seats. A few of these aphorisms are quite interesting:

• Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative (this is the best of the lot!)
  
• Generalizations are always false
• The problem with the rat-race is that even if you win, still you're a rat
• Mathematics and alcohol do not mix well - don't drink and derive
• Mud thrown is ground lost.
• Excellence makes people nervous.
• Instant gratification takes too long
• Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind
• To succeed in this life all you need are ignorance and confidence in equal measure

Technorati :Presentations. Aphorisms. Communication. Cool Sites. Powerpoint

Al Jazeera - best known Arab Brand?

Forbes Arabia has just published a report on The Top 40 Arab Brands, which puts Al Jazeera at #1. The complete list also appears here.

This survey:
- Started off with 80 Arab brands from various industries
- Included brands which have been created and owned by an Arab company
- Was done thru an exclusive online survey of 1,200 consumers in 19 Arab countries of GCC, Levant and N.Africa, including Yemen
- Utilised the services of YouGov plc, which has been lately presenting some interesting insights with Gulf News

A few points that struck me are as follows:
1) Quite mysteriously, the first 7-star hotel in the world - Burj Al Arab - appears at #7.
2) Airlines are the best-represented category, led by Emirates (2nd). All the carriers except Saudia are present in the list.
3) Jarir Bookstore - a Saudi books / stationery retailer appeared among first 10 - before Emaar!
4) Quite expectedly, all the major TV stations are in the list.
5) There are 5 brands from Juices / Milk /Beverages category (I was expecting some others too!)
6) Strangely, Ajmal - a quite reputed and recognised name among Oriental perfumes - didn't even manage to stay within the first 20 positions.

However, CampaignME's Richard Abbot feels that long term vision helped these brands to reach top-of-mind among Arab consumers. The publication feels that "... the list is genuine. It hasn't been made up by an editorial team and it hasn't been paid for by sponsors" unlike Superbrands, whose last-issue funnily did not include Emirates!

Technorati :Arab Brands. Al Jazeera. Trends. Marketing

Layman's Guide to dealing salary in Dubai

There are many of you who must have crossed the 2 most important barriers in your job search in Dubai – Getting an interview call and giving a satisfactory interview!

And then you are asked the tricky question: “How much do you expect?” This is a tricky question, especially since you’re coming to work here for the first time. On one hand you’re ready to take the ride, and on the other, you don’t wish to devalue yourself vis-à-vis your career till now. The employer, very well aware of this predicament, will try to squeeze you as much as possible! So how do you prepare for this?

Here are my 7 tried and tested suggestions:

Unlearn your past experiences / expectations
Salary in UAE are based to some extent to attract foreign talent, but are increasingly getting squeezed, as more Expats join in. Hence although converting your country’s salary into UAE may be a good start, it is better not to expect the same formula to work. One simple rule is as follows: See how much is price of a Big Mac burger in UAE equivalent to that in your country; e.g. if Big Mac costs 10 AED in UAE, it may be 25 in your country’s currency. Therefore if your expectation was 5K in your country, your base should be a minimum 2K in this country.

Calculate your basic minimum needs first
Before appearing in the interview, get a hang of your minimum house rent, transport and other fixed expenses in case you accept the offer. For example, you may need (per month) of 2K for an average one room studio, 1K for a 20 min cab ride to your office, 2.5K for Food, Water, Electricity, Internet and Cable. Therefore you need at least 5.5K to start a simple single-life in Dubai. Any offer below this value is not worth considering!

Adjust with your “lifestyle” expectations
Once you have the basic-need calculations, you may try to work out how you’d like to spend life in UAE. For example, you may need a better studio flat, or you need your own car to save on transportation, etc. Or you may just want to save at least (say) 2K per month! Add these criteria to the existing basic calculations.

Do some homework
Well, you may have your figures now – but is that realistic? Check with your peers, friends, consultants, etc. on their recommendations – don’t ask about their views on your calculations! If the feedback is little more than yours – then increase expected salary by 20%. If the feedback is less than yours then decrease expectations by 10%. If the feedback is too disproportionate – then re-look at your priorities / criteria.

Always ask for a little more
It is always wiser to ask at least 20% more than the market rate. This will allow a little room for your negotiation. If the interviewer reacts violently/ negatively, stay calm and ask for their views. Once you know this, don’t quote any value – but talk about the ways you intend to add value to the role, and offer to go down by 10% first. Chances are that they will hire you at your expected salary.

Always get to know the complete package (and more)
If the employer proposes you a salary figure instead, don’t say yes even if it is attractive and acceptable. Ask for the complete benefits and package - understand any hidden expenditures. Then say that you were expecting more (quote a 10% added figure); also add that you’re ready to start off with a promise of a review after 6 months.

Do not budge too lower than your expectations
First, it is not worth it! It will start affecting your self image, your finances and your outlook to life! It may also induce irritation and make you hum strung in the long run, esp. since salaries do not increase in UAE very much, while other costs spiral up frequently. One good way to handle such situations is to say: “I understand your position, but this (i.e. too low) salary would be a terrible compromise for me. I’m sure you won’t let your team member start a relationship on the premise of a compromise.”

Well that’s how I’ve been dealing not only in UAE – but everywhere! However, these are my personal criteria – for which I do not claim any originality or guarantee success whatsoever! Take this as a guide and work out your own calculations to your best advantage. Discussions / suggestions are welcome!

(Also cross-posted as a thread in this DiscussDubai Forum)
Technorati :Career. Job Hunting. Dubai. Salary negotiations

The First Kiss...

I've heard a lot of stories profiling the nervousness, predicaments and experiences regarding the first kiss. Recently I got a mass forwarded mail which is the best I've seen, read or heard in my entire life! I could not stop smiling about it, and hence wish to share the same with you...
I'm reproducing the contents of the mail in full:

So it's your first kiss and several questions might come to mind:

Is it the right time?

Does your partner really want it?

Is your / partner's breath fresh?

And the big question... "Should I use the tongue"

After a few moments, you lean in and decide to go for it!!!
...and get clicked by someone!!

Technorati :Behaviour. First Kiss

A beginner's guide to survive Assholes!

My formative years in a Christian Mission school taught me that using the word “Asshole” in daily language is blasphemy! However, somehow the improvements in technology (and degradation of social values) plus the years in University, Profession and work-life made me realize the immense pleasure of using the word in daily life!

You abuse a person by calling him an “Asshole” either in front or at his back, to appropriate his untrustworthiness, immorality, chutzpah, etc. and all negative traits in daily life! As if to help the new entrants gain an understanding of the bad world, Robert Sutton, a professor at Stanford in the engineering school, wrote a book - The No-Asshole Rule.

I read a review of this book, in Guy Kawasaki’s blog. He calls the book as a “definitive guide to understanding, counteracting, and not becoming an asshole”

To give a brief peep from the book, here are a few points worth noting from Guy Kawasaki’s review (for the full review, click here):

Recognize an asshole

1. One method is the Starbucks Test. Usually, when a person does one of the most weird combinations while ordering an item in Starbucks, he’s trying to flex her muscle – hence he’s an asshole!
2. Just search Google with a person’s name (or a profession) plus “asshole”. The number of search pages will decide the degree of “asshole”-ness!
   
3. One of the following actions would qualify a person to be an asshole:

• Personal insults
• Invading one’s personal territory
• Uninvited personal contact
• Threats and intimidation, both verbal and non-verbal
• Sarcastic jokes and teasing used as insult delivery systems
• Withering email flames
• Status slaps intended to humiliate their victims
• Public shaming or status degradation rituals
• Rude interruptions
• Two-faced attacks
• Dirty looks
• Treating people as if they are invisible

How To Avoid Being an Asshole

1. Face your past. Knowing that you’re an asshole is first step towards change. Begin with checking if your parents / siblings were assholes; or whether you were a bully in your school!
2. Avoid making people feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energized or belittled
3. Don’t mistreat weaker people (compared to you)
4. Resist being sucked up in an assholeholic group – Just because your group promotes a negative doesn’t mean you too have to follow
5. Walk away and stay away from assholes – don’t degrade yourself to their levels
6. Acting like an asshole is a communicable disease – stay away from this.
7. Focus on win-win - life doesn’t have to be a win-lose proposition--unless, that is, you’re an asshole.
8. Focus on being a neutral/ humble person - not better or worse than others
9. Focus on being transparent with different sort of people - not different – Idea is to find ways to make yourself “one of them”
10. Be contented - Tell yourself that you have everything – be happy with what you have

How to Cope With Assholes

1. Hope for the best, but expect the worst. Lower your expectations to reduce disappointment, but hope for the best!
2. Develop indifference and emotional detachment - In other words, don’t let the jerks get to you.
3. Concentrate on small wins against assholes – This can keep you going and lead you to win the war.
4. Limit your exposure. Do your best to avoid meetings and interactions with assholes
5. De-escalate and re-educate. If the asshole you’re dealing with isn’t a “chronic,” “certified,” and “flagrant” asshole. Be calm and try to re-educate the person about his behavior
6. Stand up to them – Expose them up-front in their own language
7. Expose them. Follow Marge’s Asshole Management Metric. This is a 4 point system from (0) to (3). Marge - the boss - points to people behaving like assholes, by holding up one, two, or three fingers to signify:

• (0) - You are a very nice person, and very passive. No one can say a word against you and would never think to call you an asshole.
• (1) - You are a normal person who can occasionally assert yourself on an issue you are passionate about, but you handle yourself in a non-confrontational way in nearly all occasions
• (3) - You can consistently assert yourself in a non-confrontational way and are occasionally an asshole, but you feel horrible about it afterwards, and you may or may not apologize (but you probably will have to confess your remorse to someone)
• (4) - You can consistently be an asshole and you either do not recognize this or you simply enjoy it

Every society / community / workplace has its own share of assholes, and you need to stop giving in to them. If anyone has info about such assholes, contact GK with details.

Technorati :Culture. Behaviour. Books. Business. Psychology

Beginner’s guide to Dubai Job-search

Having survived here for the last 5 years, I thought of evangelizing about job-search in Dubai, for the benefit of all new-comers! The thoughts are entirely from my own experience; hence you can rationalize, if you wish to.

Five suggestions for effective job-hunt in Dubai:

Never spend money on the recruitment agencies:
With all due respect to them, regardless of their packages like "CV distribution", "contact list", "CV modification", etc., you'd probably land up NOT getting value for the money you spend – especially, since you're perhaps residing miles off this region! Instead, do some site searching, desk research, etc. to get what you want - free of cost! www.grapeshisha.com is the site of a blogger who'd perhaps guide you better than these agencies. Further, use Discuss Dubai forum to know more. Last resort – you can leave your email address for free advice, thru this Blog.

Don't spend money on online sites
These sites are all very good for information on existing vacancies with companies and / or recruitment agencies. It is futile to spend money on them, since various companies happen to be their clients - not you! They do not depend on individual job-seekers for their income. Except for a restricted few number of "head-hunters" who choose to remain low profile, most of the recruitment agencies act as a conduit for supplying CVs to companies. For example, Bayt.com is definitely a good JOB BOARD for getting connections - not jobs! Many recruitment agencies also use Bayt for this purpose. It's better to contact recruitment agencies / companies directly, once knowing about them from Bayt. Ditto for Monster, Ditto for many other online recruitment sites.

Be on the panels of a few agencies
Sites of recruitment agencies www.clarendonparker.com, www.mriww.com, www.bacdubai.com, www.sosrecruitment.net, www.grafton-group.com, etc. are effective to the extent that you're on their panel for consideration. Be careful with your choice of words in your work profile, as most of them use the computer logic search through this profile, and zero-in on a candidate. If you need help, contact me for info. more resources.

You are your own best CV writer
It's said that if you cannot write a CV yourself, you're not worth for consideration for the job. A CV is like a marketing tool for your skills suitable for the post. A CV should not be duplicated and sent for every job details you come across! The sooner you learn this, the better is your job search. There are zillions of sites that give you good tips on writing good CVs. Spending money on a stranger to write it for you, is like asking a stranger to be your foster parent! Check careers section of www.wsj.com to know better ways to write a CV. Remember only YOU know yourself better to market yourself better!!

Create a net that works for you
In business as well as in life, the primitive dictum of "scratch my back; I'll scratch yours" works very well. Therefore make friends; network as much as you can; help as much as you can within your network; invite more people to your network. All these acts always increase your chances in getting a job. Some network development sites are really good: www.ryze.com, www.linkedin.com. Learn good networking skills; e.g. read "the art of schmoozing" posted in http://blog.guykawasaki.com Utilize every meeting with a new person (not interviews) to get at least 5 contact names and addresses who can give you "leads" - not "jobs or interviews". Check these leads and personally thank the person who gave you the leads, giving a short note on what happened to that lead!

Hope you all benefit from the above points, as much as I did while doing my own job-search.

(Photo courtesy; Contents adapted my post on DiscussDubai forum)

Technorati :Career. Job Hunting. Dubai

Spirit of Zakat !!??

We talked about crazy layouts on this board before too.

Apart from "Death" wrap posted by Free Mind below, there's another weird front page headline put into a shameful layout / connection.

The main headline + image headline together gave me the impression that:

"Blair warns Pakistan against hanging Briton... (in the) Spirit of zakat"

While these days KT is rebuked regularly for all the bad journalism that one can write volumes on, GN - known for it's better layouts should not be goofing up with these kinds of communication.

(see comments posted on UAE Community Blog)

Technorati : Communication. Design

Speediest way to trace someone?

I have been following this story of “missing brother" for some time, and am quite amused by the fact that the search should have culminated in jail!

Consider these:

3^rd Oct – The “mentally retarted brother” Mahesh Samal went missing after 3 am.
10^th Oct – Filed missing report with Al Gharb police
12^th Oct (GN) – An official in Al Gharb police station confirmed to have circulated name and report to police deptts. and CIDs. “Until now we have not received anything…”
16^th Oct (GN) – Ramillo…found out that his brother was in Sharjah Central Jail, as his mother called him from India and told him that Mahesh had sent her a letter from jail. "Police arrested Mahesh one hour after he left the apartment at 3am, as they could not find any identification papers on him”

Isn't it strange that:
a) Police didn't have the faintest clues of their arrests even after 9 days of doing so?
b) It was probably a snail mail that was faster than the police in this case, to have informed the mother of his arrests!

Any ideas from the community?

(see comments posted on UAE Community)

Technorati :Society

What a way to report!!!

I have been pretty often clean-bowled by the ways of layout designs in Gulf News. I’m sure many of the fellow bloggers/ friends in media / advertising / communications must have felt the same too! An example appears in today’s Page 2 reproduced here.

On first glance I got the topline spooky feelings that:
1) “The woman was stabbed repeatedly” while (or because of) “Appreciating Art”
2) The woman who was stabbed repeatedly and dumped by her husband… is seen here appreciating art with her husband

It is true that to a large extent news reporting / layout is about catching attention, making the report look “newsy” and this is what communication is all about.

However, I guess sometimes improper connection may take the communication to negative levels - eg. the report unknowingly connects the art exhibition to murder - Christie’s style!!

And just for the record, this method has often been repeated - even on front-page main headlines!

Am I too critical? I’d love to know how the community feels about it… Sam? SD? Woke? …

(for additional comments see UAE Community Blog)

About this Blog...

This blog is about “professing on any subject, at any time and place”. Hence all the posts on this blog will be utilised to support and strengthen the meaning of the word Pha(N)chology in general.

However the owner / contributors to this blog do not hold responsibility of assessing whether the posts are really associating or strengthening the term / word Pha(N)chology.

Readers’, Contributors’ and Commentators’ views are welcome on this issue.

ABOUT THE TERM
The term Pha(N)chology used in this blog is completely private and is owned by a group of individuals including me.

The terms of usage of the word Pha(N)chology are as follows:

1. The word Pha(N)chology has permanent restrictions of usage on or as a title of a Blog / Website.
2. You can use the word Pha(N)chology as many times as you wish to, but every usage on the web should be acknowledged - by means of direct linkage to this blog, or by other similar innovative means
3. The owner of this blog and his friends hold the copyright of the idea proposed by word Pha(N)chology. There’s currently no entry of this word in any documented reference books. However any usage or entry in such documents need to be preceded by a written permission of this blog owner
4. There may be currently other words which are similar in meaning / impressions to this word. We do not claim any connection or association to these words. However one is free to make such associations with proper linkage to this word / blog

Any other proprietary issues / rights / additional terms of usage etc. are held by the owner of this blog. Any discussions / comments are welcome on this forum. However violations of usage would be sub ject to dispute handling by the Creative Commons

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Licence

title of work: Pha(N)chology
year of copyright: 1980
description: “The art, science and practice of professing on any subject, at any time and place”. The term Pha(N)chology is the private intellectual property of the creator and owner of this work, as well as a few selected friends with whom the owner has coined the term.
creator: shansenta
copyright holder: shansenta

Technorati :Pha(N)chology

Welcome to Pha(N)chology

The word Pha(N)chology was invented and put to use by a group of young students in Delhi, way back in the ’80s, when the tryst for survival in a highly depressed economy was the order of the day. Forced by the need to stand out among the crowd and succeed, every Tom, Dick and Harry resorted to laying hands upon any diverse subject / topic, and lecture on it - to an audience of comparatively less-informed group members!

It was not a pre-requisite that this lecture was based on knowledge or the lack of it; but the sheer pleasure of being able to leave the audience gaping at oneself, often gave that feeling of “first among equals” within the group or community. This practice was so rampant and recurrent, that it was quite difficult to extricate facts from fiction. Often this type of lecturing was called - in slang Hindi - “Phe(N)kna” meaning “to throw”; hence the practice was gradually given the name of Pha(N)chology.

The Pha(N)chology practice had a viral growth during 1980-90, and was gradually treated as a skill – the art of making an impression among the pseudo socializers.

Fastest way to get started in Pha(N)chology is to start talking calmly and patiently, with much style and panache, about an adventure, project or a long-lost theory, which none of your listeners is supposed to have any prior experience / interest.

Technorati :Pha(N)chology