Here's 'Brand Loyalty and Cinderella', a case study of materialism ... or the fairy tale reloaded:
The word, 'Brand Loyalty' (might often not exist) was simply created by a fairy who ended up becoming a Marketing major in her own fairy tale where she deceived the ultimate consumer by packaging mice as horses, window dressed a vegetable that provided transportation without crying about CNG shortage and made Cinderella wear branded clothes to attract the materialistic prince ... This is the market we live in! 

The invitation to the ball was the brand launch where the prince (consumer) invited several potential wives (brands) for a window display of their USP's to choose the best one for a long lasting relationship. Retaining such a princess with post purchase services was thus better and cost effective than getting 5 new ones.

Eventually the shelf life of such a wife (brand) should be good enough to avoid post purchase dissonance and result in positive word of mouth by the prince (consumer) among his peers so much so that they would want to get their wives from the same 'house of brands'.
Alas! When the clock struck 12, it was the end, for midnight was the deadline of such perishable goods (that pumpkin, those rats, mice, Cinderella's rags, her broom and what not), and it was the opportunity of the opportunists where often, in a realistic world, brand loyalty does not exist. No matter how much you love to eat pumpkins produced by a particular farm, you wouldn't continue consuming them if each costs Rs. 5000 facilitating an inelastic demand. So here's what you are thinking, 'Dude who loves pumpkins that much, unless there's the word 'patch' (a real life brand) coming after it?' Let's pick any to-die-for-brand of your choice ... go ahead and then introduce it to recession on your way back.

Having a materialistic target audience, characteristic of cult following of trends or fads for that matter is healthy for your (luxurious) brand, despite these slaps of recession; after all, the niche is not that small. It's a subset that expands every day, sometimes like a contagion. Ever wonder why all of a sudden every 10th person is selling jewellery or clothes on Facebook? Well, this is the reason we all could be parasites ... ok ... positive parasites, good contagions for business health. Such markets facilitate fads with great enthusiasm, 'pet rock' from the US was a fad, 'patiala shalwars' were a fad, style could be personal though.

There still are companies totally myopic, without the need of ever becoming consumer centric ... their brands or rather such wives fail to please the consumer, the prince who is worth a handsome lifetime customer value.

Likewise, packaging plays a very crucial role in pleasing the customer, however, brands should make sure that they are not presenting mice as horses, in other words; not adding a few chips in a packet full of air. Imagine a box of Quality Street with their complete variety of chocolates ... now imagine the same box with only two chocolates. Value for money should be bundled with a great product and good packaging to make it a great offering which then could be perceived as a brand by the ‘prince’, the ultimate consumer. Also, the packaging and the product inside should complement each other to delight him.

Gone are the days of mass production, this is the reason why Cinderella's shoe did not fit all, one size sometimes does not fit all but it was because her shoes were customized by a consumer centric company (think of her as a customer now just for a little while and not the brand).

In a nutshell, if you are a brand that is a good potential of being the princess (brand), no matter where in the world you are, your prince (customer) will find you with the traces you left behind that pleased him. These things: pumpkins, rats, mice, reptiles, kangaroos, other vegetables etc (there might be some exaggeration here) become sources to get you to your brand. And then you live happily ever after ...


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Meet Citrus! My baby Sun Conure. I have never had a bird so active and mischievous like this one. What's interesting is that he likes to play hide and seek a lot by sneaking under bed sheets and sometimes inside shirts. At 4 months old he is one amazingly lovable creature.
And this is how some people sleep. :)



I'm not sure about the gender yet though ...

When I was in class III, our teacher made use of the remaining 10 minutes we had till the class would be called off. She asked each one of us what we would want to become when we grow up. Most kids gave beaten about the bush answers saying they wanted to become doctors or pilots etc, etc. The last kid of the last bench in the last row stood up and proudly exclaimed, 'Smuggler!' 

Everybody was shocked and laughed and some thought his obesity had taken over his brains.
Now I understand the economic benefits of becoming one and that Fahad (his name was Fahad) had given the best answer through a futuristic approach, a profession no one in Ms. Ghazala Ahmed's class would have ever thought of, neither before, nor after. 

While we struggle for a good career through a better job, smugglers don't need to think, they just do what they have to do. Who cares when no one does? Why do we care when they don't? 

Here is a picture of the knitting madness I committed yet again. This has been an experimental bag somehow. It all started when I ran short of the light green yarn which you can see in the upper left section of this image, I had planned bead knitting, not knowing that the yarn I had would not suffice. After leaving it like that for a year or so it struck my mind that all different knitting patches can be joined together to make a funky bag with beads and bobbles and buttons too. Ah! Do you also see cable knitting and flowers?
It was Hell completing it because an unplanned thing goes easily out of proportions. 

The yarn material is known as 'Rabri Dori' available at Anarkali Shop, Tariq Road. Though the quality has dropped thanks to the manufacturer who also decided to double the prices ... I don't buy these strands anymore because it's no use working hard with something whose quality has gone down the drain.
The patterns and textures of knitting here include:

- Cable Knitting
- Bobbles
- Bead Knitting
- Spiral, flower and Gingham Pattern 

If anyone wants the pattern for any of these I would be very happy to share.

Two days ago my sister baked something that I could never spare. Yes! Carrot cupcakes, they were not just as gorgeous as they look but also very moist, soft and delicious ... not to mentioned the amazing cheese-butter cream. We used Dr. Oatker's citrus sprinkles that were a combination of orange and yellow and leaf nozzle to pipe the leave out while the star shaped nozzle was used for the carrots and white icing to give it a professionally designed look.
If you plan to bake these, don't forget to add shredded carrots in the cake batter, they simple enhance the taste, besides, cooked carrots are even more beneficial for health! :)