By now, you must have got to know about A R Rahman’s awards spree – for your info, he has won two Grammy awards for Slumdog Millionaire (SM) music.
AR_Rahman Wins Grammy Awards
Mozart of Madras has already won a Golden Globe and two Academy awards earlier for SM music and won the Grammy awards under “Best Compilation Soundtrack” and “Best Song” categories.
This article is not about Rahman’s musical talent, but why product packaging is such an important factor in one’s success.
Answer this : Was SM’s music really the best of A R Rahman? Anybody who has been listening to Rahman’s music will surely argue that the hype around music wasn’t justified and Rahman has produced much better music than Slumdog Millionaire.
So why get awarded for something that wasn’t the best of one’s ability? Why not bring the better compositions to jury’s table and have them judge for themselves?
Simple.
Because talent/product needs to be packaged in a way that it appeals to the mass, to the ‘people who matter’ (hey geeks! and you thought marketing is boring?). And that’s what SM did perfectly.
Be it the story or the marketing push around the movie, or the lobbying that one needs to do, they walked the ‘extra’ mile where it’s not just one’s talent, but something morethat makes the cut (is it right to say that talent is just 20% of the entire deal?)
What’s the lesson for Entrepreneurs?
As I said earlier, Product vs Business (Running a Startup is Sexy, Building Business is Boring. You Decide) are completely different beast and having a great product doesn’t translate to great business (by the way, is it true the other way round? i.e. do you really need a great product for great business?).
Moreover, Product Packaging is what makes the cut between an average product and a great kickass solution – Rahman has produced much better music than SM, but ‘Jai Ho’ being part of a better package (i.e. a well marketed movie) stands a much better chance than a better music being part of a mediocre movie.
So build a better packaged solution that just a good product.
What do you think?
And for your eyes – Jai Ho.
img credit
Now, this is just silly. Analogies like this can be drawn from almost anywhere: ant colonies, sachin tendulkar’s brand endorsements, amitabh’s celeb family and what not. Can we get back to reporting news, please?
Silly comment..for the reason that entrepreneurs need to understand the power of packaging and what it takes to get endorsed by big guys.
Read before you write. Will be appreciated.
Agree with Ashish on that. The reason American cos are are so successful that they have pioneered the power of packaging / branding / imagery backed by a strong product offering.
they capture ur mind share and market share follows with focus on the dirty ground work
Agree with you Ashish. There is a lesson to learn from this post. Power packaging is of great importance.
I kind of agree that AR’s best music is not in Slumdog Millionaire. It is simply because the granny & grandpa of the west r having “herd mentality” too.
You just have to secure one of the awards to fetch all of them later…I have been seeing this behavior since childhood. This seems a more important lesson for entrepreneurs than product packaging.
“do you really need a great product for great business?)”
i would like to know other’s views on that..
Agree with Ashish on this. To get the best of rewards, packaging and marketing have to be exceptional. if you can package your products in away so it appeals to the mass, it would be a hit. Also packaging is very important, but cannot be used as a substitute for a good product.
I strongly believe, an above average product packaged & marketed well is going to do well, than a good product, not packaged well.
I am not sure if product packaging lessons can be drawn from ARR’s awards. He got the award because he was part of the larger slumdog project which was in turn packaged well. IMHO, the packaging lesson is that Slumdog was put together to appeal to western liberal sensitivity towards wretched poverty. A packaging win.
There have been many standalone albums of ARR himself and other like Ilayaraja which have been very well packaged. None of them got the awards.
If you see a winning opportunity, try to be part of it.
That’s exactly what I have mentioned as well. ARR’s talent probably served 20-40% in the entire decision..rest was SM and the marketing behind it.
That’s an imp. lesson for those cos. who are building products.
True,
Had Rahman Not been with the Team of SLUMDOGMILLIONAIRE Film , the same song with the same music in n ordinary INDIAN film would not have got the PRIZE as well as the recognition.
So better to make a good product as well as pack it Attractively, to get & make a good impression.
A CUE to be taken note of by one & all.
The track reminds me of another track which I really enjoyed listening to , I can’t really recall which one :\ does anyone happens to know what artist I’m referring to?