the 'kolaveri di' rage at IIM Ahmedabad - Believe it ?

It is one of the most prestigious Educational Institutions – IIM – the  Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad -  a business school located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.  It is the second Indian Institute of Management (IIM) to be established, after IIM Calcutta, in 1961.    They churn out highly paid Business Managers who come out not only with Graduation but with lot of knowledge imparted through various lectures by eminent personalities. 

Recently, His Holiness Dalai Lama lectured at IIM Calcutta on the subject ‘Peace’.   Amidst thunderous applause, he  was a person of humility and modesty and conveyed his message in his unique way.  He reportedly said he believed that everyone was the same by nature. He cited the merits of Indian culture and said he was a messenger of India to the world.  Despite being a religious head, he gives people the option of  being religious or otherwise, but stresses on the  inner values define our actions and the pursuit of inner beauty would lead to happiness.  Many great people including Azim Premzi, Harsha Bhogle have all lectured at IIM

Now there is news that  Managers-to-be at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) will learn the art of viral marketing from the man who has re-defined the concept.  It is reported that  the actor Dhanush will deliver a lecture and discuss the success story of the hyped ‘kolaveri di’ song  at the premier institute.   Reports speak of Dhanush along with cousin and music composer Anirudh Ravichander,  are to  address a class of about 130 students of Contemporary Film Industry (CFI) course atIIM-A., focusing on the success story of Kolaveri Di, perception and insights by Dhanush and Anirudh, viral marketing and social media.

The Cine industry itself is too unpredictable and what defines success is never clearly defined.  This is a song from the upcoming Tamil film '3' (Moondru),  which created mass hysteria on cyberspace since its digital release on November 16.  The song sung by Rajinikanth's son-in-law became a raging success online with over 10 million downloads. If you hear it, you will start wondering ‘how this song’ rather than pondering how success was achieved. 

Dhanush reportedly  tweeted, "Gearing up to make my speech at IIM institute ahmedabad tom. I don kno good english. but who cares, I'm an indian. not english."

To the Organisers at IIM,  the success of the song is a classic example of viral marketing. Most IIMs have screened the song in class to discuss how the same strategy can be used by companies to leverage their marketing activities. Students have also carried out case studies on Kolaveri Di.  The actor has always mocked his English and the reason why the Kolaveri song could have become a rage is that it is also mocking in nature.

Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awarenessor to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses or computer viruses.  It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.   The ultimate goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to create viral messages that appeal to individuals with high social networking potential (SNP) and that have a high probability of being presented and spread by these individuals and their competitors in their communications with others in a short period of time.

The kolaveri bug is smiting long even as one wonders how it could ever become a hit

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.