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The Trinity & The Art Of Branding
By K.T. Mukund
CHENNAI, March 22: Much before the marketing and management
gurus could come out with advanced scientific tools to garner
the mind and valet of 21st century consumers, the famed Trinity
of Carnatic classical music appeared to have adopted the so-called
modern day techniques while composing kritis, so as to reach
out to rasikas of assorted sorts.
Communication, induction process, brand loyalty, market segmentation,
niche marketing, individual branding, family branding and the
like are oft-heard jargons in the international corporate scene
these days.
In an interesting lecture here on Friday at the Mini Hall of
Narada Gana Sabha, Prof. V. Sivakumar of Washington led a motley
audience to a peep into the minds of the Trinity to discover
the managers and marketers in saint composers.
Frederic W. Taylor (1856-1917), an American inventor and engineer,
was considered the father of ``scientific management’’.
His influential theory helped the industry to move away from
``rule of thumb’’ management to become efficient
and prosperous. Much before Taylor , the Trinity composers had
couched their compositions in such a language akin to what the
modern managers/marketers would do to sell their wares, Prof.
Sivakumar said.
Picking select compositions of the Trinity, Prof. Sivakumar
explained how the Trinity’s kritis satiated the needs
of assorted rasikas, who had different characteristics, moods,
perceptions and the like. They had done this much the same way
a marketing and management experts in an organization would
do to sell their products, he pointed out.
Though an oft-used term these days, niche marketing was successfully
employed by Saint Thyagaraja. Prof. Sivakumar said most of Saint
Thyagaraja’s compositions were in praise of Lord Rama.
This appealed to a niche audience, he pointed out.
Giving the examples of Ford and General Motors, who employed
right terms to describe their variant cars, Prof. Sivakumar
pointed out how Dikshithar used precise words to describe the
attributes of various Gods on whom he had composed kritis. Much
in vogue these days, the positioning concept was admirably used
by Dikshithar while describing `Ishta devatha’ (favourite
deity). Kamalamba Navaavaranams along with Neelothpalaba and
Abhayamba Vibhakthi kritis of Dikshithar fell in this `niche’
category. The Navaavaranams, especially, saw Dikshithar employing
segmentation technique effectively through the use of meticulous
words to describe the attributes of the principal character
mentioned in a kriti. The segmentation approach adopted by Dikshithar
helped to bring 100 per cent customer (rasika) satisfaction.
``Dikshithar fulfilled the individual and collective needs,’’
he pointed out.
Just the way the marketers focused on the uniqueness of a product
in their selling strategy, these great composers were also fixed
on bringing out the special attributes of characters in some
of their compositions. Marketers used this to position their
products. In this context, Prof. Sivakumar pointed to the ``Sri
Subramanya Namastee…’’ a Dikshithar composition
in rag Khamboji. Here, the composer brought out all the positives
of the central character of the kriti – Subramanya. In
``Sujana Jivana…’’, a Kamas raga composition,
Thyagaraja used words specifically to describe the attributes
of Lord Rama. Prof. Sivakumar also pointed to the kriti ``Sabapathikku
…’’ in Rag Abogi by Gopalakrishna Bharathi.
In all these, the composers had highlighted the specialty of
individual Gods, much the same way the modern ad guys focused
on the USP (unique selling proposition) of a product for their
sales pitch. A product was sought after by different people
at different time zones for varied reason, Prof. Sivakumar said.
Coffee might be consumed by some for the caffeine content, others
to pass time and still others to fight headache. The individual
branding helped to bring out the special characters, he pointed
out. This had appeal to many for different reasons, he added.
The Trinity, too, were aware of the utility of `family branding’.
Citing the examples of GE, Kellogs, Crompton and The Hindu,
he said each had different products. These were, however, part
of the family brand. Each product had its own attributes. (Crompton
is the family brand. It has products like fans, bulb et al).
Prof. Sivakumar said the family branding concept was in full
evidence in Thyagaraja’s ``Kshirasagara …’’
in ragam Devaganthari. He also pointed to Dikshithar’s
``Mamava Pattabhirama…’ in ragam Manirangu and ``Ranga
Nayakam…’’ in ragam Nayaki. In all these,
the lyrics were full of `participants’ and `stories’,
sketching out the full picture rather than portraying the focus
on individual characters. In a family branding, a scientific
marketer would put everything about a product in its sales campaign.
This was what the Trinity had done in the aforesaid kritis.
Prof. Sivakumar also spoke of `benefit segmentation’ concept
practiced by Dikshithar in Navagraha kritis. These kritis were
composed in a special context. Thambiappan of Tiruvarur, an
ardent sishya of Dikshithar, had acute stomach pain. Doctors
were unable to cure him. On hearing this, Dikshithar sought
his horoscope and found that his sufferings were due to adverse
influence of Guru and Shani. He instantly composed a kriti on
Guru and Shani and advised Thambiappan to sing them with devotion.
It was said that Thambiappan was relieved of the pain because
he recited the kriti. This seemed to have inspired Dikshithar
to compose Navagraha kritis. Prof. Sivakumar saw in this a `benefit
segmentation’ exercise by Dikshithar.
Thyagaraja’s ``Vasudevayani vedalina…’’
in ragam Kalyani, he said, contained a lesson or two on how
managers should treat their subordinates. The kriti was about
``dwara balagas’’. Thyagaraja showed his humility
in this particular kriti while treating `dwara balagas’.
Here he taught the modern managers how to respect their subordinates,
Prof. Sivakumar pointed out.
In modern concerts, such branding was in full play with artistes
singing listeners’ choice numbers. In the face of brand
insistence, the artistes could do very little but to dish out
what the audience wanted, Prof. Sivakumar said.
Prof. Sivakumar dedicated the day’s lecture to music critic
late Sulochana Pattabiraman, whom he described as a critic with
``strong musical sensitivity’’.
Salem Gayathri gave intermittent music support to the lecture
of Prof.Sivakumar by rendering select kritis of the Trinity.
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