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2008 is just another statistic

I am sure, I may not be only one who feel this way.
My cynicism levels touch a new high every time the calendar gets replaced.
All I know this ought to be the biggest marketing event of a year. If “New year” is a product I am sure it will hit the charts as the most marketed and most successful advertising campaign ever. It seems to get bigger and intimidating with each passing year. It’s got a buy in across socio-economic and cultural, religious or geo-political boundaries.
The PR, below the line and the property itself is beyond any monetary valuations.
It should also be the most merchandised event ever. Organisations spend huge amounts of money to come out with new ways to usher in the “new year”. The sheer variety in the way each year is celebrated should make any brand manager proud.

Among the many things I like about the “new year” is that it presents a round up of events. If you are not a regular newspaper reader, the 1 week run-up to the “new year” gives you everything that you need. Who made the most money, who lost the most…who was right, who was wrong, who won, who lost , what happened and what didn’t happen and many more…and each one is entitled to his or her opinion.
So here I thought I will also publish my own round up of events and people.

People preceding the hype (the real doers)
Nitesh Kumar (Chief Minister, Bihar – for doing many things right without chasing the limelight)
Aamir Khan (Re-inventing commercial Hindi cinema)
Prasoon Joshi (The adman who is chasing all what he wants to do, the publicity included)
Sachin Tendulkar (repeatedly making a lot of people admire his resilience and for daring to look beyond mediocrity)
Al Gore (for telling us that there’s life after being an ex-to be president of US. Jokes apart, for telling us that we live amidst a lot of inconvenient truths)

Hype preceding people (the credit stealers)
Laloo Prasad Yadav (Ex CM, Bihar, Current Cabinet Minister – Railways) – there are too many reasons
Salman Khan
Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Why am I even mentioning his name?
George W Bush

Good omen
A social unrest…for supporting some good things.

I ended this list intentionally here.
There are actually too many things.
Will think of publishing them in several editions later.
Actually I am too lazy and suddenly realized that there is a lot of research I ought to do. Rather, let me try and dig into the last weeks newspapers and report…

Ciao

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