Being movie enthusiasts, my father and I use to deliberate about them now and then. Recently, my father re-watched the 1967 Tamil mystery thriller, ‘Adhey Kangal’, produced by AVM Productions, on Amazon Prime Video. After watching the flick, he mentioned recollecting a then print marketing strategy for ‘Cinthol’ and A. C. Tirulokachandar’s directorial effort.
He said the production house or the Godrej Consumer Products Company Ltd (GCPL) owned brand had then strategized newspaper advertisements quizzing readers the number of instances on the brand name ‘Cinthol’ featuring in the movie. And, they were asked to mail their answers to the address specified in the advert. Likewise, there was a contest where consumers were encouraged to dispatch ‘Cinthol’ soap’s wrappers by post. Also, the advertisements carried an announcement on considerable rewards for winners of the contests. Thereby, prodding the readers to watch the movie as well as to purchase ‘Cinthol‘ soaps.
Marketing Journo
It was a scene from the movie that enabled my father hark back to the strategy.
The narration of the scene sets off with the heroine and her friends shown indulging actively in social work. One among them bathes a couple of kids of the locality. A little one who awaits in queue for his turn carries Cinthol Body Talcum Powder (Probably!) and soap apiece, with the sides of both products carrying the brand name facing the camera. The lady who helps in bathing gets the soap from the kid. And then comes a close-up where the woman shows the brand name more prominently and then unwraps the soap’s cover.
In this day and age when product placement or embedded marketing has become more apparent even in TV News Channels – brand names affixed to laptop’s top cover – it is interesting to know of an instance in yesteryear and the print marketing strategy coupled with it.
Book Opinion: ‘LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI: Politics and Beyond’ by Dr. Sandeep Shastri
My father gifted Dr. Sandeep Shastri’s ‘LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI: Politics and Beyond’ on my 30th birthday i.e. on 11th January 2020 by mentioning the significance of the date in Indian political history. The date happens to be the demise date of India’s second Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri. This very coincidence aroused my interest in reading the book.
After glancing through the blurb on the back of the book, I had a look at the dust jacket’s folded flaps on the book’s front cover.
I was surprised to know that the famous slogan, ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, which I have been knowing all along from childhood, was coined by Shastri in his address to the nation in a radio broadcast on 10th October 1965.
When I started reading the book, it promised to be an account of a lot more traits, contributions, and accomplishments of the ‘Quintessential Gandhian’ that deserve to be marveled at, felt truly inspired by, and assiduously imbibed from!
In other words, the pages of the book appeared to serve as indexes to the various facets of the gem, Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri.
Among the many aspects touched on, the chronicles on different virtues in Lal Bahadur Shastri’s leadership caught my eyes.
So, let me delve into three of such traits.
Consultation and Consensus-building:
All along in the book, there have been numerous references that outline one of his admirable qualities of being a staunch follower of setting in place a consultative mechanism.
As a follow-up to the mechanism, Mr. Shastri appears to have ensured in building a consensus that the author records as to be appearing his second nature.
The book highlights the riots, centered on the official language issue, in the Cachar district of Assam in May of 1961. The district saw a heavy concentration of Bengali-speaking population. There arose massive protest and a demand to declare Bengali as an additional official language. After heeding the inputs from all parties to the dispute, Shastri as Home Minister at the national level decided to bring out a compromise formula. And, thereby, he arrived at the popular and trendsetting ‘Shastri formula’.
In the Cachar district of Assam, the formula provisioned in letting the correspondence between the Cachar district administration and the Assam government to be undertaken in Assamese, Bengali, or English. And, both Assamese and Bengali could be used in the Cachar district administration and in educational institutions.
Gentle persuasion as a go-to approach:
To bring people in line with his thinking, rather than resorting to using authority, instruction or command, gentle persuasion seemed to be his go-to approach. As per the book, even Shastri’s sons, Anil and Sunil, in their writings, bear testimony to the characteristic.
Marketing Journo
Being in touch with able and proven administrators as mentors:
To cultivate a skill like leadership, one of the best practices is to be in touch with people possessing the corresponding skills acquired via hands-on experience and then imbibe the same. In the case of Lal Bahadur Shastri, he had quite a few able and proven administrators, like Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, as his mentors. On the downside of having mentors, he ended up with criticisms that underrated his capacity of being decisive. But, he waited for the right time to showcase his capabilities and disarm his critics.
During the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, Shastri strategized to occupy minimal Pakistani territory and then vacate the place after the satisfactory conclusion of the war. To sum up the decisive capacity and the inherent toughness of Mr. Shastri, Harbhaksh Singh, the then chief of Western Command had told Kuldip Nayar, the then Press Secretary of Lal Bahadur Shastri, that the army would never forget ‘this tallest decision by the shortest man’.
And, there is this statement in the book:
“Shastri’s approach, attitude and actions in the early ‘60s are relevant for political leaders even today.”
When it comes to the precedence that Shastri has set in terms of leadership, his approach, attitude, and actions are relevant for whoever is entrusted with leadership roles.
When all is said and done, it is important to note that writings emanating positivity, and boosting inspiration, are one among the many worthwhile pills to the growing and suffocating trend of hatred being championed.
‘LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI: Politics and Beyond’ is one such worthwhile pill. Give it a read!
Book available in the below link…
‘Jockey’ Celebrating 50 Years of Moon Landing…Nothing Fits Better!
During my visit to Vivira Mall, located in Navalur Chennai, I stumbled upon this ad in a Jockey showroom’s facade.
I immediately recollected a piece that I read a week ago in The Economic Times‘s Wednesday supplement, Brand Equity. The article contends that with Red Bull having made their brand’s voice heard all over the earth from stratosphere and Indian knitwear brand, Rupa mounting its flag on Mount Everest, all that’s left for brands is to plant their flags on the moon to break through the clutter. Also, the write-up states that one brand has come closer to one such marketing feat going by the brand’s claim on its official website. The brand is none other than the 143-year old American undergarment company, Jockey.
Here is what the company proclaims as one of its milestones of the 1960s in its website…
“Due to Jockey’s unmatched reputation for quality and innovation, NASA commissioned Jockey to design undergarments for the first manned mission to the moon, Apollo 11.Jockey engineered & designed the product such that it would remain unaffected by gravity, and was worn by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.“
Jockey commemorating 50 years of Moon Landing:
Now, we are in the 50th year since the landing of the spacecraft, Eagle on the moon on July 20, 1969, by the American crew comprising Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Hence, the American brief brand Jockey commemorated the historic moment by reminiscing its contribution towards the same by rolling out a campaign. The advertisement, which I noticed in the showroom’s frontage, is an offline leg of the drive.
Marketing Journo
On July 17, 2019, Jockey India’s twitter account tweeted the below posts!
You’ve heard about mankind’s greatest voyage, but what made it possible? Keep an eye out to find out. pic.twitter.com/BbEsaQLCO4
There’s a lot that happened down here on Earth to send men to the moon. Stick around to find out how we helped engineer greatness. pic.twitter.com/Tn8FrWBAHH
The video is available in the brand’s YouTube Channel as well. Watch it below!
Like Twitter, Jockey India shared its excitement over the campaign, along with the clip, via its Facebook page and Instagram account too.
Apart from the aforementioned contents, Jockey India collaborated with Discovery India to produce a documentary titled, Apollo: The Forgotten Films. The Discovery network broadcasted the film exclusively at 9 PM on July 20, 2019.
Below is a teaser for the same!
It took the brightest minds of a generation to send three men to the moon. Find out just how they did it with 'Apollo: The Forgotten Films'. An in-depth documentary from the @DiscoveryIN in collaboration with Jockey. Tune in on July 20th at 9 PM to see just how history was made. pic.twitter.com/B5vWENyb3U
Last week, I and my wife planned to purchase shirting and suiting from a Raymond store. Thus, we visited an outlet in our locality, Adyar. Upon entering the store, we were able to spot only ready to wear clothing. We couldn’t find fabrics, which we intended to purchase.
Then, there came a person to attend us. From the attendant, we ensured that the store is a ‘Ready to Wear’ outlet. Also, he went on to add that the store provides ‘Made to Measure’ service too.
For context, as per Wikipedia, ‘Made to Measure’ (MTM) typically refers to custom clothing that is cut and sewn using a standard-sized base pattern.
As far as Raymond’s MTM is concerned, customers willing to avail the service will have to visit the store to consult their advisors. Try out dresses of various sizes and select the one that fits best. Choose from a range of fabrics and pick personalized elements like embroidered initials and cuffs and collars.
Measurements and preferences gathered from the customers will be fed into the system to be utilized later to craft the customized garments. Dresses, in finished condition, can be collected from the respective stores in 12 days.
Marketing Journo
Apart from the aforementioned information, the attendant conveyed that the customers could avail either ‘Made to Measure’ or ‘Ready to wear’ service from the stores similar to the store that we visited i.e. We will not be able to purchase fabrics here to be stitched elsewhere or use just the tailoring service here, after purchasing fabrics from some other place…not even from another Raymond outlet.
To better understand the services of the stores under discussion, he briefed us the branding of both i.e. The ‘Ready to wear’ stores are assigned with the logo, present in the below photo…
Whereas, the stores that sell fabrics are characterized with the name, ‘The Raymond Shop’ and by the logo, present in the below picture…
We are in an era where brands are trying out to enhance customer experience by incorporating technological innovations that incur a substantial cost. At the same time, brands are also attempting to pan out cost-effective means of innovations. Of late, I came across one such economic strategy i.e. utilization of a dual-purpose matching glass, deployed by the Indian branded fabric and fashion retailer, Raymond.
Recently, I and my father visited one of the Raymond outlets in Chennai, to purchase cloth materials for a pair of formal shirt and trousers.
Firstly, we selected a couple of shirtings.
Then, we selected a set of clothes for pant. To facilitate us in rounding off our activity of selecting matching cloth materials, the store assistant placed the shirt cloth above that of the trouser and placed a matching glass over them, as below…
The matching glass has been created in such a way that the shirt and pant parts of the glass are transparent. So, every time when the glass is placed over a set of shirt and pant clothes, the consumer can get to know how well they appear on a person.
Marketing Journo
Apart from providing a preview of a shirting and trouser cloth, the matching glass promotes Raymond’s custom tailoring service.
You could notice the hashtag, #TailorYourStyle, Raymond logo and the text, CUSTOM TAILORING inscribed over the glass. Wherein, the hashtag and text refer to the brand’s service, Raymond Custom Tailoring. According to Raymond, the service offers customized shirts, trousers & custom suits made using high-quality fabrics with assistance from experienced stylists.
Watch below the advertisements for Raymond’s custom tailoring service…
When clothing companies like American Apparel are letting customers watch videos of models wearing the brand’s clothes in its Augmented Reality app, Raymond’s approach of using matching glass appears to be cost-effective and at the same time, serving dual-purpose.
It’s a rarity to see a flick in a movie series, generating massive frenzy all over the world before its theatrical release. Now, when I try to recall one such rare movie, Avengers: Endgame of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), pops up without a shadow of a doubt.
Since the movie, Avengers: Infinity War ended in a suspenseful manner, fans were left with utmost anxiety as to not miss the film’s sequel. Also, as the sequel, Avengers: Endgame (22nd movie of MCU) being labeled as the last movie of the franchise, the eagerness among the fans got immense. These aspects laid the groundwork for the “last installment” of one of the most memorable franchises of Hollywood to ride high.
For brands looking to promote their product/services, the movie appeared as a significant vehicle to unleash their prowess in marketing. Thereby, we have been observing various brands impressively riding the Avengers: Endgame wave either by associating themselves with the movie or by ambushing the same.
What appeared more interesting in these strategies was a movie doing a marketing ambush at Avengers: Endgame. Wherein, the ambush extended beyond the universe…SHARED UNIVERSE!
Before describing the movie’s marketing ambush, let me brief about a series of promotional contents shared by Marvel Studios for Avengers: Endgame.
A month before the release of Avengers: End game, a series of character posters featuring the MCU superheroes were shared on social media. Superheroes, who survived the snap of Thanos like Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Thor in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, appeared in full color. Whereas, the heroes, who turned to dust such as T’Challa, Peter Quill and Gamora, appeared in black and white. Also, each poster featured the tagline, ‘AVENGE THE FALLEN’. As the Hollywood Reporter puts, the tagline offered a new definition of the Avengers title and a callback to 2012’s first Avengers movie, wherein Tony Stark told Loki, “If we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damn sure we’ll avenge it.”
The Curse of La Llorona‘s marketing ambush at Avengers: Endgame:
On 25th April 2019, the day before the release of Endgame, the following poster was released in the social media of the movie, The Curse of La Llorona…
The poster featured the titular character, La Llorona looking off camera and the tagline, ‘AVENGE THE CHILDREN’, rephrasing ‘AVENGE THE FALLEN’. The tagline appeared in a similar font and carried the spark effect from the original posters.
The rephrased text makes more sense to the movie’s crux as La Llorona persistently tries to drown children. Also, the social media post carried the text, ‘Twice the scares, half the time’ with the hashtag, ‘#LaLlorona’.
When all is said and done, it’s really impressive to notice The Curse of La Llorona, the sixth installment in The Conjuring Universe doing a marketing ambush at Avengers: Endgame of Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Of late, I’d lunch with my family, in one of the outlets of Dindigul Thalappakatti in Chennai. In the restaurant, below every diner’s plate, I noticed paper placemats imprinted with the below advertisement…
On seeing the ad, two aspects made me glue to its content. Firstly, it’s the advertisement’s striking design. Secondly, it’s the predominant yellow jersey sported by the two human batting figures featured in the ad.
After going through the paper placemat, I realized that the promotional material did not feature any of the names, which a cricket fan in Tamil Nadu would easily relate to, such as…
IPL
IPL 2019
Indian Premier League
CSK
Chennai Super Kings
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Dhoni
MSD
But, via this strategy, the restaurant was able to tap into the emotions of a Cricket fan.
Considering Dindigul Thalappakatti circumventing the use of the above-mentioned names in its promotional materials and at the same time, trying to capitalize the excitement around IPL 2019, the strategy could well be quoted as an ideal example of Ambush Marketing!
Recently, I read the Adweek article titled, Burger King’s Week of Being Misunderstood Just Ended With Advertising’s Best Reunion in Years. In addition to providing an overview of the Burger King’s commercial, All By Myself, the write-up showcases a glimpse of the history behind the fast food chain’s viral marketing mascot, Subservient Chicken. As history appeared interesting, I jumped on to read more pieces on the character. In the process of reading, I was enticed to know about Burger King’s primary mascot, The King. Apart from being interesting, its evolution and longevity suggested ways in which a brand can incorporate its mascot in the marketing strategy.
Here are my top lessons from the history of The Burger King mascot.
Incorporate mascot in the Fusion Marketing approach:
Like most of the big guys, Burger King has as well cooperated with brands, having the same kind of prospects and standards, in joint marketing efforts. In a handful of such fusions, the quick service restaurant has brought in its most popular mascot, The King.
The mascot appeared in the Burger King’s campaign for the film, Superman Returns in summer 2006.
In July 2007, The King featured in the commercials meant to promote the animated comedy film, The Simpsons Movie. Wherein, the character appeared with the show’s typical traits of four fingers, yellow skin, and an overbite.
The Burger King in a commercial for The Simpsons Movie
Later, the mascot appeared in the tie-in promotion of the film, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and advertisements for a cross-promotion with the National Football League (NFL) and Direct TV’s NFL Sunday Ticket sports subscription package.
In summer 2018, the US brigades of Burger King and Budweiser entered into a partnership, which yielded a limited-edition burger, American Brewhouse King Sandwich and revived the American beer maker’s iconic campaign, Whassup. To top it all, The King, holding a set of the new burger in his hand, “spoke” in the spot. The advertisement supported the revitalized campaign.
By doing Fusion Marketing, the associated brands are expanding their reach but reducing their cost of marketing because they are sharing it with others. When such an approach incorporates a brand’s most popular mascot in a unique and engaging manner, the resultant campaign gets more appealing and its outreach gets more effective.
Marketing Journo
Integrate mascot into different forms of content offerings:
Apart from using the mascot in numerous commercials, the fast food restaurant has leveraged the persona by…
Featuring an animated version of The King at the beginning of each episode of Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, a cartoon series created by Seth MacFarlane and released on YouTube
By integrating the mascot into different forms of content offerings as mentioned above, the brands are leveraging different channels to take their mascots to the audience. In the process of this integration, there is a likeliness for the existing audience to get entertained in a fresh manner, and for a new fan base to get roped in.
Make the mascot spearhead topical moments:
For Good Samaritan Day in 2018, Burger King treated everyone with a good-natured film. In the video, you see a car fire on the side of a highway. Alongside the car is a guy who appears to look up to travelers vrooming past him to lend him a hand. People who pull over to assist the guy are in for a surprise when The King, flame grilling Whopper, welcomes them. What appeared as an engine fire are actually the flames from the grill. The fast-food restaurant presented Burgers and iconic Burger King Crowns to the Samaritans. Watch the video of the one best Burger King marketing campaigns of 2018, by clicking here!
Here, I would like to recall a moment from Tamil Nadu, India. The below bespectacled and laughing character has been the mascot of the 93-year old Vikatan Group…
For decades, the old man has been symbolic of most of the publications and businesses of the group.
On 7th August 2018, when KalaignarM. Karunanidhi, an Indian writer, and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, India for almost two decades, passed away, the Vikatan group customized its mascot as below…
Topical moments spearhead by mascots, as mentioned above, offer the audience with occasions that deserve everlasting remembrance.
Customize mascot to appeal to children:
Burger King has customized its mascot to appeal to children in various stages of its history.
In the late 1960s, Burger King introduced a small and animated king character called Kurger Bing in its children’s advertising, voiced by the American voice actor, Allen Swift.
Kurger Bing
In all advertisements, the character presented small gifts to children or bought them some Burger King Food. In many of the ads that featured the king, he recited the brand’s slogan, ‘Burger King, where kids are king!’
Later, in 1976, the Marvelous Magical Burger King, who ruled Burger King Kingdom (a fantasy world associated with Burger King) and performed magic tricks, replaced Kurger Bing.
Marvelous Magical Burger King
The King appeared in the Burger King Kingdom commercials from 1976 to 1989. In favor of the Burger King Kids Club Gang commercials, the quick service restaurant discontinued its Burger King Kingdom ad campaigns in 1989.
An updated version of Kurger Bing later appeared in the Burger King Kids Club Gang advertisements during the mid-2000s.
Another case in point is on how the paint company, Nippon Paint India promoted its KIDZ Paint product by involving kids. In 2018, Nippon Paint India used its mascot, Blobby to promote its child wellness product, KIDZ Paint aimed at children in the 0-12 age group. Furthermore with each KIDZ Paint product came a free Blobby hand puppet.
The above examples perfectly illustrate that mascots could come in handy in marketing, especially when brands have the relevance of tapping the attention of kids.
And, here ends my article that maps the high points in the history of The King with marketing. Hope you enjoyed reading the write-up! Now, let me know the marketing lessons, which you have inferred from brand mascots, in the comments!
In 2018, technological innovations of retailers for cashierless shopping have raised the bar over the expectations of customers on the convenience in the retail checkout process. Following the roll out of the checkout free Amazon Go at Seattle in January this year, the trend of cashierless shopping seems to have picked up steam among a significant number of retailers and start-ups.
In this article, I present a list that provides an overview of the technologies of such retailers and start-ups. Here we go!
Amazon Go:
In January 2018, Amazon opened the first checkout free convenience store, Amazon Go in Seattle. Since then, it has opened two additional stores in Seattle and a couple of stores in Chicago and San Francisco. To ease off the check-out process at the stores, one has to download the Amazon Go app (which is available in both iOS and Android) and have an Amazon prime account.
Before entering the store, the customer has to open the amazon app in the smart phone, swipe it at the turnstile present at the storefront, put the phone into the pocket and start shopping. When the customer takes a product, an entry of the same gets added to the app’s virtual cart. And, when the customer puts the product back to the shelf, the entry of the item gets automatically removed from the virtual cart. Once after leaving the store, the technology adds up the prices of the collected items and charges the customer’s Amazon account. The receipt of the transaction is send straight to the app, which completes the checkout process.
Amazon has used computer vision, deep learning algorithms and sensor fusion, much like one would find in self-driving cars, to implement the above transaction process and calls the same as Just Walk Out Technology.
Click here to watch how the checkout process pans out in Amazon Go!
Marketing Journo
X-Marts:
In 2017, the Chinese e-commerce Company JD.com had announced that it would be opening hundreds of unmanned convenience stores called X-Marts across China by partnering with the leading Chinese Real Estate Developer China Overseas Land & Investment LTD. As of now, the company has opened 20 of such stores. Technological solutions for the stores have been fully rendered by JD.com’s in-house logistics innovation lab JDX. The solution is provided by integrating smart technologies such as RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification), facial recognition and image recognition.
The checkout process is facilitated via the ‘JD.ID’ app. Before starting to shop, one has to open the app, go to my account and tap the option, ‘JD.ID X’. As a result, a QR (Quick Response) code will be generated in the app, which has to be swiped at the turnstile. Following which, one’s ID is confirmed through facial recognition. Thereupon, the customer will be good to go for shopping.
RFID tags are attached to each of the products that are present in the store. Post the shopping, the checkout terminal will identify the customers through facial recognition, add up the prices of the picked items and charge their credit card. The transaction details will be sent directly to their smart phones.
This year in June, the Walmart’s members-only warehouse retailer Sam’s Club announced that it will be opening a new store in Dallas. In October, it shared the news that the new store will be named Sam’s Club Now and it will serve not just as a retail outlet but also as an epicentre of technological innovation for Sam’s Club. In the new store, Sam’s Club will be testing out technologies like computer vision, augmented reality, machine learning, artificial intelligence and robotics.
To kick off its process of technological innovation, the retailer will be launching an app named Sam’s Club Now based on its existing ‘Scan & Go.’ app. In the app, by combining machine learning with the customer’s earlier purchase data, a shopping list will be auto-filled. This shopping list will then be used with the beacon technology to map the most favourable route for customers through the store. A map will pop up in the app and guide the users within the store.
Also, the app embodies voice search to identify products in the store. And, by using the app’s augmented reality feature, customers can scan the items and bring them to life.
Once the shopping is done, the customers will be getting a code in the app. To complete checkout, the code has to be scanned at the exit.
Click here to check out the video about the technological amenities that are available at Sam’s Club Now!
7-Eleven:
The convenience store, 7-Eleven will be introducing a service, similar to that of Sam’s Club Now, at 14 of its locations in the Dallas metro area. To avail the service, customers have to download the 7-Eleven app and register for the 7Rewards loyalty program. Also, the customers have to be located within the geofenced area surrounding the pilot stores.
In the products available in the stores, there will be options for the customers to scan using the app. Post the scanning, payment can be done via Apple Pay, Google Pay, a debit or a credit card. Once the payment is done, a QR code will appear in the confirmation screen. The QR code has to be scanned while exiting the store.
Zippin:
Bay Area start-up Zippin has launched an automated checkout store in San Francisco. The store is expected to turn into a full-sized convenience store offering a cashierless shopping experience in the coming months. To shop in this store, customers have to download the Zippin app, open it, scan the QR code displayed in the app at the store’s turnstile, pick up items and leave the store. Customers need not scan at turnstile to exit.
Overhead cameras available in the store track the movement of people. Weight sensors, over which the products are placed in the shelves, track the items picked from and put back to the shelves by the customers. When the customers leave the store, the app sums up the prices of the items picked and charges their online account.
Rather than to rake in profits, Zippin has set up the store as a prototype to showcase their new-found technology to potential clients and is aiming to sell it to other stores.
Also, the bay area neighbours of Zippin such as AiFi, AiPoly, Standard Cognition and Trigo Vision too have jumped on the bandwagon in bringing out similar systems. Out of which, Standard Cognition has announced that it aims to equip 3,000 convenience stores in Japan with its technology, by summer 2020. And, it is planning to start its own demo store in Japan. As of now, its technology is available at its proof-of-concept location at San Francisco, Standard Store.
Trigo Vision:
The retail automation platform Trigo Vision, shared the news that the Israel’s largest supermarket chain Shufersal will be adopting its software platform in its 272 locations.
Macy’s:
Apart from the aforementioned instances of cashierless shopping, the American department store chain Macy’s is planning to implement a mobile payment feature in all its stores before the 2018 holiday season. Macy’s is facilitating the payment process via its app.
And, as per a Reuters report, Microsoft appears to be in developing an Amazon-Go-like technology and is in talks with retailers like Walmart to become their strategic ally.
Conclusion:
Apart from offering a seamless shopping experience, the implementation of the cashierless checkout feature helps the retailers to better their inventory management. With many retailers climbing on the bandwagon of adopting a cashierless shopping feature, we have to wait to see on whether this trend is going to be the wave of the future or a flash in the pan.
Tip to improve Vocabulary: Lesson from ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’
By the end of the day on most Fridays, I have this habit of watching a new film, predominantly from Hollywood. The choice of the movie and its genre depends upon my mood, prevailing at that time. I always look for movies possessing seamless narrations. At the same time, I pay special attention to moments, which provide some serious lessons that are essential to life, in the movies. For instance, I would define the 2006 American biographical drama film, ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ a repository of highly valuable life lessons. Besides the movie rendering illustrations for aspects like determination, killer instinct, upbringing and forbearance, a sequence in the film provides a brief lesson on vocabulary. The sequence features the conversation between the father-son duo, Chris Gardner (thecharacter of a dad,played by Will Smith) and Christopher Jr. (the role of a soon-to-be five-year-old son,enacted by Jaden Smith) during the course of their walk to meet a potential client of the former. Prior to the sequence, Chris Gardner conveys Christopher Jr. that possibly he would take him to the football game after the meetup with the prospect.
The interaction between the two during the walk transpires as follows
Christopher Jr.: Are you bringing it (referring the bone density scanner, which Chris Gardner is carrying) to the game?
Chris Gardner: Yeah, I don’t wanna leave it. And maybe we’re going to the game.
Christopher Jr.: Where are we going now?
Chris Gardner: To see someone about my job.
Christopher Jr.: I don’t understand
Chris Gardner: You don’t understand what?
Christopher Jr.: Are we going to the game?
Chris Gardner: I said possibly we’re going to the game. You know what “possibly” means?
Christopher Jr.: Like probably.
Chris Gardner: No, “probably” means there’s a good chance that we’re going. “Possibly” means we might, we might not. What does “probably” mean?
Christopher Jr.: It means we have a good chance.
Chris Gardner: And what does “possibly” mean?
Christopher Jr.: I know what it means.
Chris Gardner: What does it mean?
Christopher Jr.: It means that we’re not going to the game. 😊
Whenever I come across the usage of the words, “possibly” and “probably”, I just recall the aforementioned conversation and get myself clarified. This brief lesson suggested me a valuable tip on vocabulary. The tip is to note down informative and appealing dialogues like the above mentioned, as and when I notice them.
So, what makes the dialogue appealing? As the convo has been written out in such a way that a father describes about the difference between two words to his soon-to-be five-year-old son, the explanation has been rendered in a simpler form. Also, if something like a thought, idea, or a concept is explained with a relatable example then there is a high probability for individuals, who are able to relate with the instance, to have a lasting remembrance of the concerned topic’s meaning or context.
Hope you found my tip on vocabulary to be useful and practicable. Now, head to the comments and let me know your ways to improve vocabulary. And feel free to share a link to your blog post, which is relevant to this article so that I can check it out as well!
