"U" for "USP - Unique Selling Proposition!"

I thought a lot for some unique  "U" word. I thought about unity , umpteen , urgent , ubiquity etc ! Finally I found USP the most unique word. Actually it is an acronym with too many abbreviated forms. Do refer to this site to know more - http://www.acronymfinder.com/USP.html ! I here want to concentrate on my favorite of all the words - Unique Selling Proposition . Dictionary defines it as

1. The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or does not, offer. It must be unique—either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising.
2. The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions, i.e., pull over new customers to your product

I am not here to discuss about the brands or their ads but we will have a sneak peek in to that too. USP can be used for humans too who can sell themselves excellently projecting their unique traits and qualities. They can market themselves successfully if they possess some unique traits which no one possesses . There is no limit to talent and there is always a necessity to keep our brains active and functional. There is hell lot of competition every where and to be unique is a real challenge .

You must have faced this question quite often  in interviews : "What is your USP ?" We manage some how in interviews as facing an interview needs faking many a times . Once an interviewer asked me if I did anything different from others during the farewell party in college.I stumbled in the beginning and then replied I was one of the organizers and I gave an idea to give rose flowers and gift portraits and photo frames of their favorite movie actors to girls and of actresses to boys! I was not sure if it was a unique thing to do but the interviewer seemed impressed. The lady in the panel bored her eyes in to me and was sulking continuously. The gentleman was happy by my answer. He again questioned , "Was the idea unique ?" I replied , "Ya. It was." He again stressed , "Did some one implement the same idea before?" 
I acted as if I was thinking for a second and then replied, "No. It was a new idea and our seniors were happy!" He moved on to next question.

Now who knows whether any one from previous batches implemented the same idea or not. I was just faking confidently . I got the job after a long interview but the interview got me thinking . I was in dilemma. I am an extremely honest person which always lands me in small / big problems. That day I questioned to myself. Which is more important ? Being honest and saying that it was not a very unique idea or faking and projecting it as the most unique idea? Slowly I understood that many project their ideas as if they are most unique and brilliant like our politicians usually do. Depending on the kind of people we are dealing with we need to fake uniqueness at times. 

The USP gives us a UPS -uninterruptible power supply to face the world , to survive in the competitive atmosphere and to just easily do the day to day chores sometimes!

My Mom's USP is her home made masalas which ease cooking. She makes various powders and spices of different combinations which can be used for chicken , fish , veg dishes. Her rasam powder and khopra (coconut) , Mirchi (red chilli powder) and a garam masala paste are famous which can be readily used in various cuisines and they give a heavenly taste to whatever I cook. My mom's masalas are a big hit and many of my cousins and friends keep asking the recipes. I even pester her to start an Indian spices store . Along with having the title of "best cook" in the family  she is a great artist who decides the home decor. She used to stitch all my dresses till teenage. After that my tastes used to change every week and it was challenging for her due to disparity in our thoughts and tastes. She paints , does sand art , paper art etc etc. You name it. She can learn it in no time. I keep dreaming of getting my lazy bum off the sofa and doing some thing which can make the house extra beautiful and glittery. The below are few shots which show the hard work of my mom and her USP which never fails to impress us.

Sand art . It adorns the tv room.

The nib painting - This one adorns my room.

Pics are not clear as they were taken by my poor nokia ages back.

The hall planned and decorated by mom

I am not very creative and can decorate my hall using angry birds- stuffed toys or some wall hangings bought at some mall. One day I am surely going to inherit my mom's talent and stitch a beautiful saree or paint some thing. By the way I was an artist too. "Was" as I lost touch with my pencil sketches. There is a huge folder at home which has to be dusted and my treasure needs to be unleashed. The below is one of the pencil sketches by me. By the way drawing is not my USP.

I am still trying to find out what my USP is. One of my friends told my posts are heart touching and it is definitely my USP. I asked, "Do you really think so?  I can never imagine stuff and write fiction wonderfully." He said, "You can try but writing these kind of posts which are actually your experiences so realistically is your USP . There are many who can't do it." That last line did the magic :P I felt good thinking may be many cannot actually write the way I write and may be like him many like the way I write. I was feeling so wonderful that day that I went to CCD (Cafe Coffee Day)  and treated my self . That for sure looked like the starting point of what I am embarking on.

Having said that I for sure cannot write the way many do and they cannot do justice to "my" kind of posts by mimicking me. Every one has their own USP which they need to project properly which is all together a different topic to deal with :)

There are few products which project the USP of their brands and products perfectly, where as few are big bummers.

Good and bad ads :

Australia post ad :  Yep the below one is actually their ad. If you really want to touch some one send them a letter. The tag line and the pic are  unique

One more - 

For more check "here" 

The Honey bunny ad of Idea is sweet, fresh and good but it wore off soon. The caption of the sprite soft drink- Sprite bujhaaye only pyaas. Baki sab bakwaas ( Sprite helps only to get rid of thirst. Rest all are useless) is a good one though at times it gets overboard. Century ply ad  is good where a wife becomes wild gorilla and smashes every thing in reach but the wooden products stay intact.It shows the strength of the product which is mingled with fun and sense but could have been more unique. Sab sahe mast rahe is their tag line which means the product tolerates anything and every thing and stays strong!

 There are few mindless ads like  Mirinda or Mazaa ad, Sunfeast dark fantasy or amsutra or axe deo or bumchikawaowao(some deo ad I guess. I always forget what ad it is) .Many ads can always be confused with the condom or some other ads .Till the ad ends its tough to guess what it actually is for  but I guess people enjoy watching Katrina holding a slice or a girl savoring the chocolate or biting off a man who sprays axe chocolate deo.  The product gets sold. *Sigh* 

There are many creative ads and few disastrous ones. In the struggle to have a perfect USP some times creative brains chime together churning out a wonderful idea and many a times brains over work and ring incoherently which leads to meaning less ads where highlighting the product becomes last priority !

Enough of the USP gyaan people. It is always important to have some USP which helps us to stand out of the crowd. Being a part of the awesome group "A2Zers" is really a blessing as I came to know the USPs of many people. Few are amazing photographers. Few write magical poems and few weave magic around simple words. Few write excellent travelogues . Few write heart touching posts. Few teach subtle lessons for life and few keep it simple but make us think a lot. I am not mentioning all the names here but hats off to the whole group !

Lastly some thing I got as a forward mail few days back !!

Always remember - 

What is your USP in writing and apart from writing what are your other USPs ?
Once again a big thanks to  "A to Z blogging Challenge 2013" ! 
This is my 21st post-- WOW just 5 more days are left.