وانبجاء عليكم سادتي يعني كنا يعني كنا كنان باتم فهنا سوزة والله في فرقنا وقال الله لعبين في محكم تكابن كريم ونقوم كنحق ولاستقل قائمين عوض الله من الشيطان الرجيم ببسم الله الرحمن الرحيم وانبجاء عليكم سادتي يعني كنا يعني كنان ببسم الله الرحمن الرحمن الرحمن الرحمن الرحمن وانبجاء عليكم ونقوم كنان ببسم الله الرحمن الرحمن the most commonly discussed notions in many academic circles is the concept of pluralism this particular question in regards to what is pluralism and what is the Islamic position on pluralism has become a seemingly hot topic in our communities and is oftentimes deemed as something extremely controversial this for our discussion tonight inshallah we will discuss the different definitions of the term pluralism see what is the Islamic position of pluralism what does the whole of the Quran and Allah SWT state about this concept and what in the position of the imams, the holy prophet and the imams of the Arabic we go ahead and we see that this concept of pluralism number one has several different definitions and each and every one of these explanations for this particular term needs to be discussed needs to be understood and then we need to conclude the discussion of that particular definition with a determination of whether or not Allah SWT his religion, the holy prophet, the Adam-Bait except this definition as a part of the religion of this law so let us go ahead and take a look at these four or five definitions depending on how much time that we have tonight and let us try to understand this concept in regards to the question of pluralism number one we see that there is a notion in the social sciences known as social pluralism what is social pluralism? we commonly see that those who support this theory of social pluralism they come forth and they say that this world is a global village that due to the internet, due to society, due to the way that we live our lives it's very important for every individual to live peacefully and coexist with one another regardless of where you come from, regardless of what language you speak regardless of what type of food you like to eat and so on and so forth and when we go ahead and try to understand this concept we see that it actually has a very strong foundation within Islamic kitchen الله سبحانه وتعالى, for instance, says يا أيها الناس, إِنَّا فَلَقْنَاكُمْ مِنْ بَكَرِنْ وَأُمْفَى وَجَعَنَّاكُمْ شُوْبًا وَقَبَائِلًا بِتَعَرَفُوا that we've created you into men and women, we've placed you into nations and into tribes and the purpose for us and this diversity in terms of your creation is so that one by one you get pure, no بِتَعَرَفُوا so that you come to know and learn about one another let's be comfortable and we see that this particular concept, the social pluralism is accepted in the region of Islam we see, for instance, the government established by the Holy Prophet بحمده صلى الله عليه وسلم in the holy city of Medina embraces this concept yesterday in our examination of the history of Kulfa we mentioned that the city of Kulfa was a city which was very very diverse this immigration would come from different parts of the world many of them they came just to live next to Imam Ali at Islam, yet we see that in those four years and nine months of the government of Imam Ali at Islam to Islam we find people who speak different languages we find people who have different interests we have people who eat different types of food we have people who wear different types of clothing yet we see that none of these particular ideology none of these particular concepts contradict in the least bit with the teachings of the region of Islam rather differences is that which has to be embraced according to the religion the fact that we can all come over here in the measures of Imam Ali at Islam dress a different way we might speak different languages at home we might eat different types of food we might come from a different culture and so on and so forth we might desire to raise our children differently but that doesn't hinder us from progressing as a community who desire to come over here and pray and fast and break our fast and eat together and pray for Imam Ali at Islam in fact we commonly see that today in these days of Asa as Imam at Islam everyone in a different culture in a different background in a different language we find in reality that they commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Ali at Islam very differently with different languages by different costumes by different cultures by different styles of poetry by different styles of Mahtam and all of these types of things and in fact we find that in the region of Islam we embrace this particular concept and even for those who don't hold the same religious beliefs that we do we find that this kind of stuff that social pluralism applies for even if someone is not a Shi'a at Na'asha and Muslim believing in the twelve amounts of the Imam at day doesn't mean we can't live with them doesn't mean we can't work with them doesn't mean we can't live in a society that is dominated by them rather we have to understand that it has to be a mutual respect a social respect let's return again social pluralism I'm not even a believer I do not have a thought I think that after the Islam he started in that famous line I'm not so sometimes I'm not so much the Dean or the leader of the lecture the heart that surely that people are of two types the first type of people I am brothers in religion and the second type they are equals in humanity just because we don't accept the same ideology that they do if they mean you can't necessarily live with one another let's go ahead and we see that the first definition or the first type of pluralism that is often discussed in these academic circles in this class in terms of social pluralism that which Allah SWT by virtue of the ayat of the Quran and that which the prophetic practices and the Sunnah of the Imam at day also apply also Dean acceptable first we take this particular definition or this particular aspect of pluralism and we keep it to the Sunnah secondly we have a concept of pluralism known as religious pluralism and this is the focal point of our discussion today we see that the discussion of religious pluralism itself is broken down into many different some definition or some topic and for this we want to go out and take a look at them understand them and see if they fit into the mold of the teachings of the whole of Quran and the teachings of me the prophetic concept we see number one and we have a definition of religious pluralism that comes forth and states that every single religion is a demonstration of truth every single religion takes you closer toward your goal which is to gain the knowledge of Ma'ritha and to get closer to Allah SWT they state that you can comport and choose any religion as you please you can choose to become a Muslim you can choose to become a Sheiky you can choose to become a Sufi you can choose to become a Christian or a Jew or a Hindu or a Buddhist it doesn't matter what you desire to come because each every one of these paths are a means to take you toward the truth they all take you toward the goal of getting closer to Allah SWT without and oftentimes these philosophers they come forth to provide this example they state that the differences between religions even though they may be contrary is what is known as positive difference what is positive difference the philosophers they come and they define this term positive difference and they state it like this they state that today I go to a particular restaurant and I want to go and eat some ice cream when individuality likes vanilla one individual likes chocolate one individual likes strawberry one individual likes some mix one individual likes you know I don't know what I don't know right they come forth and they see that there are several different choices of ice cream I might prefer vanilla ice cream and you might prefer to eat strawberry does it mean or can I come forth and state that you're wrong because of your choice no we'll state that you know what you have a choice of strawberry because you like it because of your choice of strawberry that is my right it doesn't mean that I'm better than you it doesn't mean that I have a greater you know understanding of ice cream than you do right secondly we come and we see for instance that someone goes to the department store and they go to purchase cologne perfume and they go and they see that there's five-seven different choices one desires to purchase Chanel they're there to choose from which everyone that I choose it's fine and the one that you choose it's fine for you this doesn't mean that I am a you know that my choice of perfume is a dominant one and to dominate that particular scent over your desirable scent rather we have what is known as this concept of positive difference that though we have a selection of different choices to choose from every one of them has their positive these are all good these are all wonderful the concept and we try to apply this particular feeling toward the religion of Islam or toward the world religions we see that one individual chooses the religion of Islam according to their belief of this ideology one states that I am a Muslim because the religion of Islam it works for me another one comes forth and states that I am a Christian another one says that I am a Jew because I subscribe and I prefer to subscribe to Jewish theology individual who support this theory that every religion if they need to take us toward the truth they are alright and everything is ok and there is no problem but on the surface it might sound something extremely attractive but when we come forth toward the details these great statements so if I am a she a Muslim and I support that the fact that the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم he appoints أريدني أدخار أريس راتي و سلام as a successor while a Sunni Muslim suggests that I will refer the successor to the prophet صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم and we are both on the right and we are both taking to the same truth and everything is all work but even though I might believe that the fact that Allah is there is only one Lord while another religion another theology might come forth in a state that I also believe in a God but I believe in the fact that a God can take several different physical forms that this is also acceptable even the fact that they might come forth and that these different ideologies and perspectives contradict to one another these individual states that there is no problem with religion and ideology a viewpoint contradicts with one another how can we both think that they are equally on the same path to addiction logically the human being in a discussion using logical deductions and principles immediately you would reject the fact you know that you have two that take you toward the path meaning that I come forth in an I state oftentimes we ask our kids this or we ask you know I was not in this and say what is your favorite flavor I have two but it worked you have to have one favorite one meaning that is the ideal the one that you always choose when you have a different you know combination of different perfumes you have to choose one the two for the most not the two that you choose the most not the two that you like the most rather you pose the question which one do you prefer the most similarly not every one of them can necessarily be on the same path which would equally perfect when they have complete contradictions these individuals who continue to support this theory enlighten the contradictions they come forth and they present this verse of the Holy Quran and bear with me in this discussion today as we'll be quoting a lot of Iraq of the Holy Quran and trying to reflect upon that unless it's kind of without a states in chapter 2 verse 62 please follow by this instance الله سبحانه وتعالى says they completely state that in chapter 2 of the Holy Quran verse 62 الله سبحانه وتعالى says as for those Jews and as for those Christians and as for those of different religions those who believe in الله سبحانه وتعالى and they believe in more last day they are protected by الله سبحانه وتعالى وعلى حفظ عليهم وعلى هم يحسن and for them there's nothing to them to fear and for them they have no reason to breathe these individuals who support this particular idea that every single religion is pluralistic that every single religion has the means and the potential to take you ونقلوا بشكل جيد جداً دعوا نحن نرى المزيد من العالم أمام الله سبحانه وتعالى لأنه لأجل كل one of these group of individuals لن يوجد أجلهم لهم. لن يوجد أجلهم لهم لكي تقلقوا بشأنهم. فأمام الله سبحانه وتعالى يجب أن نضع الناس. نحن يمكننا أن نرسل في المزيد أمام واحد. أنت لا يمكنك أن نقل أيها المزيد من العالم المزيد. وننقل أن تنقل أيها المزيد من العالم المزيد.  يمكنكم أن تضع أي of these different paths because each and every one of them has a part of the truth and it's no problem. And they come forth and they present this ayah as evidence for this particular thing. Let us go ahead and take a look at it. Allah سبحانه وتعالى stays in the whole of Qur'an verse 29. This is in chapter 29. I'm sure that I'm taboot. Verse 69 for those of you who are taking notes. وَالَّذِينَ بْسْنَارَخْمَظْرَهِنْ وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِيناْ لَمَهْدِينَّ هُمْ سُبُولَناْ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُّفْسِدِ But surely for those who strive in our way, we will guide them toward our paths. Our paths, not our path. They say, look, Allah سبحانه وتعالى very clearly He states that there are different paths. And everyone who strives and everyone who desires and everyone who wants to become amongst those who are the followers of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. And who want to increase their knowledge about Allah سبحانه وتعالى. There are different ways and different means for them to get toward this absolute view. All they have to do is make the effort. And Allah سبحانه وتعالى لَمَهْدِينَّ هُمْ سُبُولَناْ. They will take us toward these paths. How do we reconcile these particular ways? We state, number one, that the word سُبُول comes from the singular word سبين. سبين is different than the word سرات. This we have fortunately seen that one Allah سبحانه وتعالى states that those who work and strive in our way, we will lead them toward the different سبور. We state that these سبور, these means, these paths are all a direction or all an effort to guide us toward the absolute goal, which is سرات المستقين. And of course we have several different narrations from those outside of the school that we date that state.  A سرات المستقين, as we mentioned in a couple of moments, is none. And that سرات, that path is out of none of it, out of the سرات المستقين. That's the question. And why does Allah سبحانه وتعالى think that there are different pathways to a سرات المستقين? We come forth in this state. But if you go and if you learn the religion from إرام المستبع out of the سرات المستقين, is it going to contradict from the teachings of Imam Amir and Manin? If you learn the religion from أبا عبد الله, is it going to take you away from the religion of Amir and Manin? If you learn the religion from أماني قابن, is it going to take you away from Amir and Manin? If you learn the religion from أباني قابن أباس, is it going to take you away from the ولاية of عرية المستقين? But these are the different ways, and these are the different means, and these are the different paths to take you to right عرية المستقين. This is point number one. Number two, we come forth in this state. We say how many times, 10 times at least every single day in our سرات, إِهْدِ مَا سَرَاتَ المستقين. Every single day we say, Oh Allah, guide us toward a سرات المستقين. Do a straight path, not a straight path. Not a straight path. In fact, we go ahead and we take a look at the language. In the Arabic language, when we present toward others and young before something, it leads to what is known as تعليم. For those of you who know the Arabic language, or those of you who have studied a little bit of Arabic grammar, and you will understand this particular point. Putting others and young before something, it's specifying and concising exactly what we are trying to discuss. What do we speak in the players? What do we sort of speak in the players? إِهْدِ مَا سَرَاتَ المستقين. Number one we speak, إِهْدِ مَا سَرَاتَ المستقين. Take everyone, guide humanity. Ask in the plural. And then we speak as سرات المستقين. There is only one pathway that Allah سبحانه وتعالى without a desire for us to take to get toward Him that is the pathway of the 8th أريم خلال سرات المستقين. This particular definition of pluralism, those that state that all religions have a part of the truth also, they reject this particular concept. Fourth mean we come toward a different definition. A definition that states that all religions they have a plurality of interpretations and I ask you to please bear with me for these next couple of points that I'm going to try to make. Please understand this point. The fourth definition comes fourth and even the individual as they state that there is a plurality of interpretations in regards to religion. What is this? They state that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has absolute truth. He has lived all knowledgeable. He is all merciful. He is omnipotent. And in the same definition that we describe Allah سبحانه وتعالى they come forth and they state that the issue is that those who the prophets have Allah سبحانه وتعالى those who Allah سبحانه وتعالى selected as His prophets on the earth they interpret the message of Allah سبحانه وتعالى according to their own time and according to their own space. Please understand this particular theory. It is very very common. Commonly discussed in our communities unfortunately. They state that when Allah سبحانه وتعالى sends down Noah he sends down the same message that he sent down to Prophet Muhammad سبحانه وتعالى which is the same message that he sent down to Abraham which is the same message that he sent to Moussa which is the same message that he sent to Isra which is the same message that was being spoken about by the Imam of the Prophet but every single representative for 124,000 prophets and the twelve Imam that we have in bayt each and every one of them this religion on the basis of the circumstances in which they live. Again, it sounds something extremely attractive. We pose the question to this state number one but how can you state that Allah سبحانه وتعالى sends down each and every one of these prophets and they interpret it their own way then what would be the purpose of Allah سبحانه وتعالى to the people that be their my divine representatives for instance, Allah سبحانه وتعالى speaks about the Quran that the Prophet سبحانه وتعالى knew it as far to an embryo from Allah سبحانه وتعالى he is the seal of the prophet he is the final prophet he is the final prophet and in the Imams of the Adam one by one they come with a different interpretation of the religion of the last prophet aren't they all interpreting the religion of the final prophet differently than the way that the final prophet desired to interpret that religion aren't they all prophets as well so if they contradict with one another and if they have different viewpoints it's only limited on the basis of their time in this state this is an issue that's talked about number one they will truly come forth in this state but how dare one and the other are limited by time and space and that their words are only relative toward that period in which they live we recited this verse a couple of days ago and I recited it again Allah سبحانه وتعالى says oftentimes when we recite this verse we state that this verse means that every word of the prophet is revelation it comes from Allah سبحانه وتعالى and that's right but the second verse states it says that is words and surely he this is the revelation he himself the imams that we had in date have this status that their words at every time and at every period and in every space are the words of Allah سبحانه وتعالى this is what these individuals they come forth from this state that we can accept the plurality of different interpretations because we come and we see that all of the prophets and all of the imams they have their own interpretations when they spoke in this message we state absolutely right that their interpretation was the interpretation of Allah سبحانه وتعالى that the interpretation of the prophets and Allah سبحانه وتعالى he only spoke every single word and every single action and every single movement that he made and that they had invented me or is that exactly what Allah سبحانه وتعالى desired from them from this verse is the ideology of a plurality of interpretations when it comes to revelation is also rejected within the school of the Arabic then we have a second definition or a deep definition it's this definition of pluralism these individuals they come forth from this state that okay we don't state that there is a plurality of interpretations when it comes to revelation about Allah سبحانه وتعالى there is no plurality of interpretations we cannot accept contradicting ideology on the basis of Allah سبحانه وتعالى on the basis of prophethood on the basis of Qur'an on the basis of the Ma'ad and so on and so forth but there is a plurality of interpretations in regards to knowledge which we are not certain of or what are known as a new revenue for instance when you have a wide variety of different Arama and Maraj you have Maraj in Egypt you have Maraj in Pempera you have Maraj in Pempera one will come forth and will state that when you go towards Hajj anyone who wants to go and strike the Jamarat you have to strike the Jamarat right in the middle of it because it's been expanded over the years and so on and so forth this you should try to strike but in the middle if you strike it anywhere you can strike it on the right you can strike it on the left anywhere you want this is a difference of opinion a difference of interpretation of something which we are not thoughts about look up forth again and may state for instance another example then one Maraj size but performing then you are as Makruh thus we see that there is a difference of opinion there is a plurality of interpretations in regards to this particular aspect we the school that we have been told Qur'an the teaching that we have been told that we accept this particular definition of plurality that if one comes and we are not certain about what are known as the Rumiat of Deeming then it is okay to have a difference of opinion from the different Maraj and if one follows this particular this particular Fattwa and I follow a different Fattwa doesn't mean that one of us are outside of the Rumiat of Islam or one of us are not following that which is the right path because they are all potential means to get closer to Allah SWT and none of us are certain about that which Allah SWT desires in the books of law and all the Qur'an or in the narrations of the added rate and so on so again to recap very quickly those individuals who come and they think that there might be a plurality of different viewpoints or ideologies when it comes to important parts of religion foundational parts of religion we say it absolutely not we state that no one could state for example within the school that I have been in that any other Fattwa is not the success of the process because alcohol is not Fattwa but looking at a woman who you should not be looking at as something Muslim and state things like this because these are all what are known as the Rumiat-i-Dil the necessities of religion but in regards to aspects that are among them in regards to aspect which the major which the scholar has to perform what is known as an Ijtihad they can F to derive the conclusion at least that there is no problem to be known as a plurality of different interpretations and simply and finally the last definition that is presented for pluralism and of course there is many others but for the last for our discussion is known as religious perennialism for those of you who have read many books in academia in regards to theology or religious studies you will find that this particular aspect of the theological circles in universities across the world number one because it is extremely attractive toward the reader and number two because often times in part of the best academics they come forth and they subscribe toward the view because it solves a lot of problems in the social sciences why? they come forth and they sleep that a lot of people who without now they've been left but Allah سبحانه وتعالى is like a cloud and Allah سبحانه وتعالى is like a cloud or He manifests Himself in a cloud and within that cloud contains all the sublime qualities and names and attributes of Allah سبحانه وتعالى this cloud comes over a region and every range wrap that comes from this cloud is a different religion it sounds very nice it sounds very attractive but from Allah سبحانه وتعالى He desired in the region of Islam to come down in the one manifestation of what He designed another one comes forth and another range wrap comes and it's the range wrap of Christianity another one of the range wrap of Judaism another one of the range wrap of Buddhism another of the range wrap of so on and so forth we can fortunately see that this particular theory they desire comes forth and state that every single one of these religions they hold fast toward absolute peace and there's no need to discuss differences amongst these religions for they hinder our progress in society this state there's no need for you to debate there's no need for you to discuss there's no need for any of you to comfort and being dialogue with one another why? because these hinder our progress they have been built we state that if all of these forms of worship or all of these different ideologies of viewpoints or perhaps Allah سبحانه وتعالى are equal then why for instance that Allah سبحانه وتعالى can never say about was one of the greatest worshipers that Allah سبحانه وتعالى but He didn't want to submit to Adam He didn't want to prostrate toward Adam for those years yet she had vowed that as soon as he prostrated toward after Adam lost his time that Allah سبحانه وتعالى why? because he was failed to follow the instruction which Adam produced but as soon as following the religion according to his own viewpoints that was your God and in the words of today more spiritually closer to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and why did Allah سبحانه وتعالى understand that under any of your vow about that Allah سبحانه وتعالى you want to tell those away about Allah سبحانه وتعالى what God has said what God has said what God has said what God has said why did the prophets of Allah you want to say you bring your family and we'll bring our family and whoever is wronged in terms of their ideology and we will pray for the other opposing party to come and pray for the to be dispersed upon them if all of these religions are acceptable if all of them help you toward the divine path of Allah سبحانه وتعالى if each and every one of them are a manifestation of the absolute truth then why is it that prophet Muhammad سبحانه وتعالى comes and invites these people to the religion why should we go and have budgets for the moment to say it why can't we just accept the fact that Hussein ابن عريب the other party performed its jihad and Yazid ibn Mu'a'i performed its jihad and they were both right and there's no problem in them fighting the battle and the fact that Hussein was killed in the battle he was right and the fact that he didn't kill them he was right reality is ridiculous we commonly see that the religion of Islam the teachings of the Adam date or even or extremely clear that the religion of Islam is the final religion that the religion of Islam is revealed by means that again like we mentioned that Allah سبحانه وتعالى selects the Holy Prophet Muhammad سبحانه وتعالى to party on his final religion and he chooses the other party of Ali according to the divine commandment of Allah سبحانه وتعالى to be the means to carry on the message of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and anyone who desires to get to Allah سبحانه وتعالى by means of that most accursed method I take you the most pure route that has to be by boarding the ship of the Adam date out of here from South East which is a lot of Hadith and states that surely my Adam date is like Teneff that my I had bathed my family I left the ship on the north those who board it they're taking success and those who don't take the ship what happens they drown but those guys who drowned they had a point they might have had a point it's not the point the point is that there's one way to get towards success there's one way to get toward Allah سبحانه وتعالى وَاَكُلُ أَسْتَرَاتَ عَرِيْبْ لَادَةْ عَرِبْ وَلَا إِلْمَكِينَ عَرَيْبْ أَسْتَرَاتُ وَسْتَرَةَ this begs the question what is going to happen very common question which is actually not part of this discussion but many people don't pose this question they say that if the path of everything is that most pure perfect path to get to Allah سبحانه وتعالى how about everyone else it's all partners all three condominers and so on the religion of Islam is a religion of tolerance the religion of Islam is a religion of dialogue the religion of Islam is not a religion of coercion rather the religion of Islam takes a very simple perspective when any one of us have this portion in our mind whether this person is going to enter into paradise this person is not going to enter paradise hold on for a second and state am I going to enter into paradise for this I'm not worried about my neighbors or my friends I'm worried about my own salvation I don't know who is going to enter into paradise except if Allah سبحانه وتعالى guaranteed that person paradise and the narration that they have been baked are clear in regards to who those people are they have been baked their guarantee of paradise the enemies have been baked their guarantee of paradise I don't know anything else we're not a religion in which to enter into paradise we're not a religion that passes judgment on others we leave the judgment of Allah سبحانه وتعالى he will determine who goes to paradise he will determine who goes there who received the punishment the only thing that we need to worry about in terms of our lives in terms of applying this discussion to our day-to-day life is to understand that the pathway toward perfection is the pathway that I have been baked and the only individual that I need to worry about is myself I need to strive to become the best individual that I can be I need to strive to become the one who gains in my mind when I ask my father أبانا it is to be Dak'aked I work with him I put him up in pussy in his narration that we recended so many times this narration which أدما Eric Business is the highest level of what is known as li tawak Nowak the highest level of authenticity in regards to the prophets they found this group of individuals فلن يستطيعون بأمر جيد في تجدهم حتى يضعون أجمالهم. المأمودة عباس المدعون يأمر إمام عريب مموسى وضعه واريسراته وإسلام لجد من مدينة إلى مدينة فراصة. في هذا المرأة ، نعرف أنه تتوقف بمدينة أمام العريب مموسى وضعه واريسراته وإسلام يأتي من المجدينة ، ومع ذلك الشرق والمواردين يفعلونهم مواردين يفعلونهم من أجل البحث يذهبون بجميعهم لقد أخبرنا من المجموعة ومن المجموعة كانوا أشخاص بشخص أشخاص ومع ذلك أشخاص ومع ذلك أجل البحث يمكننا أن نضع أسطناء من المقاومة المقاومة تبقى من مقاومة يتبقى في مقاومة و with thousands of people surrounding me Thousands of people holding a notebook and a pen or you know the equivalent of whatever was back then They're ready to write down the advice in the words As the states had definitely heard from my father he said to the Jalsar He heard from his father the Jalsar and the Muhammad but he hears from his father Muhammad and Bani who heard from his father Bani and the Hussein who heard from his father Faisa Ibn Ali who hears from his father Bani and the other Muhammad who heard from the mouth of Rasool Allah who heard from the Jibra'il who heard from Allah سبحانه وتعالى أنه قال و يتكلمت لا إله إلا الله فسحني تبن دخل فسنة آنة من أولابي و أبخل all of them directly from Allah سبحانه وتعالى who states that spading the flames يا إله إلا الله is nice و أبخل the one who states يا إله إلا الله has entered into my fortunes and the one who has entered into my fortunes is protected from my touch and then the Imam look toward these thousands of people around him and says that there is a condition إلا إله إلا الله and I am among those conditions someone states that maybe you know all of these other ideas and all of these other viewpoints or the other and there are conditions to get to Allah سبحانه وتعالى who state now that the other condition is I am giving the other part but the other one is Hassan the other one is Hassan the other one is Hassan Jad the other one is Ba'ar and go about this time the imams of the Arabic they are the means to the perception they are the means to get us to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and if you want to understand God and you have to enter to the door of the Holy Prophet أحمد صلى الله عليه وعاله and he is asking my door is I am your brother أحمد وعالى I am listening if those who lost their minds of the Arabic word I am not for the sardines so I am going to turn out for the the greatest of the Arabic word please talk for one moment immediately you can fall directly into water very very dangerous the moment that you begin to question the Arabic word is the moment that you begin to allow this should have these doubts to enter into your mind enter into your soul and potentially it will fall and to those who stand against the imams about it I do not know how do we see the day on this night we remember the tragedy the excruciating tragedy of the Ba'asa and of the khasa of the Naree and of the Ba'a and I remember Hassan and of the Salatu As-Salaam on that day that he was in the presence of the Imam of the Sayyid and of the Salam it is said that that poison had inflicted his body to the extent that he began to vomit his own liver the Arabic it says that Imam and Hassan and the Salatu As-Salaam was in his hands and he had the bucket in front of him and he was vomiting Imam and Hassan and the Salam is next to him and Imam and Hassan and the Salam begins to eat Imam and Hassan looks toward his brother and he says Oh Abad No, no, no it is as if I can say that day I'm 30,000 and I've been in Romania they're ready to shed your blood and they state that they're doing it in the name of Allah سبحانه وتعالى at this moment Imam and Hassan and the Salatu As-Salaam say that Abad do not cry anymore and he says Ya Abad do not cry Ya Allah Do not cry Ya Allah Do not cry for there is no day like yours they know for sure The Hadith it says that at this moment Imam and Hassan and the Salatu As-Salaam it's advised by Imam and Hassan he says Oh Abad go and take this prayer and take a napkin and cover this particular bowl Imam and Hassan are you done are you okay are you feeling better because you know I'm not but I hear you saying that you're about to enter into the room and I don't want to have to see you like this I asked Imam and Hassan imagine how she felt on the day of Ashura once she thought I had Abad Abad on the spear and he said that Imam and Hassan are you Salatu As-Salaam on the day of Ashura he needed behind the inheritance of four sons to Imam Abad now the first one of these sons who thought on the way of Imam and Hassan is Hassan of Imam and Hassan known as Hassan and Al-Thanda he was married to the daughter of Imam and Hassan the elder daughter of Imam and Hassan are you Salatu As-Salaam and he was moved on the day of Ashura but he did not die in fact we have many traditions from Hassan and Al-Thanda in regards to the events of Kerbera that he himself married as he was moved it secondly we have a second son of Imam in which Salah are you Salatu As-Salaam a young man by the name of Abu Bakr who comes from the same mother of Hassan the lady known as Aramla thirdly we have the story of Abdullah Abdullah and the sons of Imam and Hassan are you Salatu As-Salaam perhaps he was eleven or twelve years old that he said that on the day of Ashura when Imam and Hassan are you Salatu As-Salaam was lying on the grounds of Kerbera some narrations and the stories they write that Imam and Hassan are you Salatu As-Salaam was lying on the plains of Kerbera upwards of one hour because no one wanted to go and kill Imam and Hassan are you Salam it is said that when Zainab was standing on the hill the son of Imam and Hassan was standing next to Zainab and when he saw a man begin to approach Imam and Hassan Ar-Salaatu As-Salaam he ran from the plains and he went toward Imam and Hassan Ar-Salaam he looked toward Hormara in common and he said oh Hormara are you really going to kill my uncle and he said that at that moment Hormara struck an arrow and killed Abdullah and Hassan and fourth meaning of the pride of Imam and Hassan on the day of Ashura of course Ar-Salaatu As-Salaam according to historians 13 or 15 years old on the day of Ashura on the day of Ashura Ar-Salaatu As-Salaam on the day of Ashura he comes toward Abdullah and he says oh my uncle Imam and Hassan let me go and find but this aspect on the day of Ashura wasn't of course a bit about the tragedy of Ar-Salaatu As-Salaatu As-Salaam because Hassan begged Imam when he was saying to fight a little bit before this it is said that on that night of Ashura Imam and Hassan Ar-Salaatu As-Salaam gathers together all of his companions he gathers together all of his family members and after he invites them all to leave and he realizes that none of them are going to leave he begins before telling them of what is going to happen the next night or the next day it is said that Imam and Hassan Ar-Salaatu As-Salaam says oh my companions oh my family members tomorrow each they are going to die oh you are going to die this way you are going to die this way you are going to die this way you are going to die this way one by one he began to explain to them about what is going to happen the next day it is said that at this moment one boy he stands up from behind the tank and he says ya I am oh my uncle are they also going to kill my cousin this is not the way he said he doesn't say anything at this moment that same boy he stands up again from the back of the tank and he says ya I am oh my uncle are they also going to die tomorrow it is said that again Imam saying ya how is he going to respond toward this orphan boy this one way this one way it has been entrusted to take care of Imam and Imam he looks him toward the eyes of Abdullah and he says ya I am he asked in your way oh my uncle death is sweeter than honey on that day of our short our person comes toward Abdullah and he said oh Imam and Hussein tell me can I go and fight in your way Imam Hussein said Master Hashan I am my uncle when I beat him and what happened when I beat him I beat him and I beat him and I beat him and jinxed me and I beat him alruba and got hit but my wife I get the I get the the and after والسلام على المسوط على العلالي يسلام that entered into the center of the women at that moment, Lady Dana let's take her for the salam we're an Italian machine-brain We're not that new men we're one of the most important every one of the forces that died nearly 13 years ago 13 years old He began to run on the battlefield then he run into the train his uncle he arrived at Hussain Aray he sat out toward Staraan he began to ascend, mounted posture وانتون كروني فانبنو حسين سبتون نبي المستفع المؤتمر وانتون كرساني كياسير فانبنو سننبنو حسنة جيدوناتناوني وانتون كرساني وانتون كرساني


Live from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, it's theCUBE, covering VTUG's New England Winter Warmer 2017. Now your host, Stu Miniman. All aboard, we're back here at the VTUG Winter Warmer 2017. I'm Stu Miniman, and we're at Gillette Stadium and really thrilled to welcome our final guest of the day, Deion Branch, of course, Super Bowl, 39 MVP. I remember many games here at Gillette Stadium and watching you. Thanks so much for joining us. Man, truly appreciate you. Why am I last, though? Well, you gotta save the best for last. I appreciate you. I mean, this is it. You're our closer man. Yes, sir. This is when I need to go to, who do we throw to? We're throwing to you. I'll do my best. Awesome. So much. So, Deion, I mean, so many memories here. You think back twice with the Patriots, spent a little time up in Seattle with, I remember Pete Carroll when he was coach here. I almost stopped getting my tickets for those years, but he did well up there in Seattle. Great team. Yes. And good there.  What's some of your favorite memories? Man, it's clearly the Super Bowl. Super Bowl victories. I think overall, you know, I have an opportunity to be drafted by a first class organization such as the Patriots. And then also, you know, being traded to Seattle, that's another first class organization. And then having the opportunity to come back, you know, just to finish my career here.  That's what they call it in Indianapolis. That was cool, but I think overall, just being a part of this organization and having an opportunity to win two Super Bowls, we actually went to one we lost. We don't like talking about that one, but it's okay. I think overall, the overall experience, you know, just a childhood dream, you know, just being blessed and very thankful for the opportunity that I had to be here. Yeah.  I got to compare and contrast for us, you know, Seattle is a class organization. They got that 12th man up there. We got some great fans here in New England. I mean, you know, 12th fan, raise a flag and stuff like that. We got better fans here, right? Way better fans. I think our thing is the fans here, you know, very spoiled. And I think that's the player's job. We do a great job of spoiling our fans. The guys in Seattle did just at the time when I was traded. Just wasn't used to actually winning, dah, dah, dah. Then now, unfortunately they won a Super Bowl, which is great. You know, it's probably one of the toughest stadiums to play in.  Everybody's very nice, you know, but expectations are very high. The bar is very high here. There's been a couple of playoff games we get kind of loud here, but this is not a loud stadium. I've been to a couple others. It's louder, some other places, but you know, good support, good knowledgeable fan base.  I mean, I started, you know, Aftercraft had bought the team and had a great run, but people would have been here.  And we just won another ring. That's all that's about here. That's the only thing, that's what it's about here. You know, the pedigree speaks for itself. Coach Belichick, he sets the tone early, early and often, each and every year. You know, once the season is over, it's time to move on to the next year. You know, regardless if we win a Super Bowl or not, you know, we're in a playoff game, we get to the Super Bowl we win. We may celebrate for about a week. You know, then it's time to move forward to the next season. And once you get acclimated to that type of thing and going up under those situations, you understand what it's all about. It's all about right now in the present time. You know, the culture, do your job, all that stuff. All day. So you had the pleasure of working, you know, with one of the best players in the, you know, greatest of all time, you know, Tom Brady the goat, right, TV 12? Yes. We see him on social media. We see him on commercials.  He is funny. Oh, he seems very funny. But I'm gonna tell you one thing what a lot of people don't understand about Tom. You see his competitive nature on the football field and that's my brother. Don't get mad at me, Tom. But I'll never forget that one day I beat him in the locker room. Well, it was during training camp and we had a little break, a two hour break or whatever. And we was playing ping pong and Tom lost like three times in a row. I beat him three times straight and it was like 15 guys waiting for next. And he just completely broke all the paddles. He was so mad, but it just goes to show you how competitive this guy is. He wants to win, you know, I mean win at everything. So clearly you know what it is on the football field. The expectations is very high for this guy. He sets the bar very high for himself and also his teammates.  He wants to win the competition for training camp for like, you know, the spots and everything. He's out there. That must set some of the culture if, you know, the golden boy, you know, does that. Everybody else needs to focus. And I think the younger guy, I see that. You know, he's setting the tone for the team not only just for the veteran guys, but you have these young guys who come in every year and think that once they get drafted, they've done enough. That's it. No, it's more to it than that.  I need to follow in the suit as well. Yeah. Kirk, you know, Tom's on this whole health kick.   Did you see that over your career as to kind of them getting more technical and more involved and all that?  You know, we're looking at my guy, Teddy Brusky, behind me.  Give me some sort of things to kind of alter my off season program. And you know, the health thing has always been a big issue.  That's the most important thing. If you stay healthy, you can play those years. So, Deion, I know you've got a lot of things to do. We appreciate you coming. And last question I've got for you.   What's your call? What's the score going to be? You know, what's going to happen? I think it's going to be a real good game. The Pittsburgh has always been a team that we see towards the end of the year.  I mean, this was an off year for the Ravens. The expectation is for Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Flacco, and Ben Rothersburg. That's what it's been. And this is what we expected. And I think the guys are going to go out and take care of business. Who knows, man? 24, 20, you know, Patriots.  Deion Brandt, two-time Super Bowl champion. Super Bowl 39 MVP. Thank you so much for watching. We'll be back to wrap up here at the VTUG Winter Warmer 2017. You're watching The Cube at the home of the New England Patriots.


We move on to our first panel discussion is slightly behind in time, but that happens when we have such interesting conversations happening So we apologize for that, but I'm absolutely sure that we can make it up So it's time for our first panel discussion and the topic of the panel discussion is building a distinct brand in a cluttered digital Ecosystem we have a eclectic panel of speakers to discuss the topic you can see it on your screen Let me quickly introduce you to them the session chair Aisha Nagar and the NEPA India also the panelists would be Ashish Lingamnaini head of brand Swiggy, Mani, Ranganajan, GroupCEO, Housing.com, Makhan.com and PropTiger.com Mr. Sai Narayan, Chief Marketing Officer of PaesAvaza.com, Siddharth Dabade, Managing Director India and Sark M.I.Q. So that's your panel. Ladies and gentlemen, I will hand it over to Ms. Nagar Auchyap Thanks a lot, Ravind Well, hello everybody nuances of brand voice has never been so delicate In the last 17 months in the last two years and we have seen that in the preceding sessions Right from sales driven strategy, we have seen shift to solution driven strategies We have seen brand voices completely changing Retrospect the changing consumer cycle and it has never been complex for a marketer To really think about how the differentiated positioning for the brand today is going to be now on that note I go straight into our session with the topic that we would be discussing in the next 60 minutes How to create that very distinctive and differentiated brand voice in a very cluttered ecosystem And we are joined in by a very strong panel a great mix of both brands who are championing the way For building these brands or supporting these brand stories With that, I think I'll open up with a opening note from everybody and invite on a very broad question Might be umbrella question thoughts, but let's let's see everyone's take on how the last two years journey has been Some stories in terms of rapid response to the pandemic How it has been to look at these changing images image associations We also have a great mix of industries We'll begin with you Ashish from the Swiggy house and like how the stories has been for the sector Hey, hi, thanks Isha, great to be on the panel Good afternoon, I guess to all the other panelists as well So Isha, I think our Amongst all the industries that were impacted, I think we've seen two fairly distinct waves And how that's kind of like panned out for us Like everyone else, we were caught by surprise right in the beginning And I think the first direct translation for us was a fair amount of In general fear and paranoia from consumers with respect to ordering And I think that was the primary task at hand along with actually also launching a lot of new service lines at that point in time So we were in war mode On war footing we launched services across gross city and lots of cities Which we didn't really offer before that We obviously were looking to stabilize our own services work with Government authorities to kind of like make sure that as in basic things like mobility, etc Is allowed for essential services, right? So once the Once basically the hygiene was kind of like sorted I think we then moved back to building trust and that's that was essentially last year for us We probably talked more a little bit about that down the line This year is obviously been different. I think we've seen a lot more with the lockdowns this year We've seen consumers relying a lot more on ordering to kind of like get by and For our services like genia really kind of like been a real boom for consumers. It's seen them using it really really As in frequently to kind of like whether it's saying food to people and as in friends and family take care of loved ones So I think definitely been a very different 2021. So yeah, that's that's been our experience Great. Thanks for opening Ashish now from combating stories in You know food delivery. Let's move on to say you what's your perspective on building in these differentiating, you know, differentiated strategies from finance perspective You are on mute, I guess Thank you. Thank you for the introduction and hello to the fellow pandas So again, like The last two years have been very very interesting stuff challenging and also a lot of learning Because at least the initial phase was a lot of shock both for us and for the consumer especially because we were the one of the largest lending platforms And what happened the moment the first lockdown was announced is that lending almost seems to have been halted and And also the moratorium was announced So which kind of you know, they were But as but what it also taught us that it was like This entire phase of when you want to do what Yes, you can do apply for a loan online a lot of process happens offline And an offline was completely on the fault. So that was a time which gave us to kind of know go back and work with the partners and work on So that know we took that period to kind of build that So I don't know when things come back to normal We can be as ready to So that was a And then it was more of you know Learning and trying trying to use To kind of Be really when the consumers and So right now, I think We are pretty much back to our original phase Where we used to be and now that we have both the technology And Yeah, so we will come back to you for more online and offline. You know the the mixed stories Continuing the brand of perspective money. Do you want to chime in? For how was it for you? Sure, so I'll just take 20 seconds to give a perspective of our company. So we operate three brands one is housing Dot-com the second is Macan dot-com and both these are Internet market places where people can can buy or rent or sell homes And then the third brand which we operate is crop tiger, which is an offline brokerage Now from the point of view of the pandemic, I think one of the things that all of us in the brand space in real estate missed out was emphasizing the importance of the house and that's something that Consumers really brought out, you know during the various surveys saying that the house is the safest place where we can be in so The use case of owning a house You know became very very important And that's something that consumers define themselves The second thing which we noticed is that the rapid pace of digitization in the ecosystem Developers have spent on digital marketing to various degrees And a lot of brokers have started participating in the whole digital ecosystem But we think that the pandemic brought about an acceleration in digitization by a few years where we saw brokers developers consumers all Move online very quickly Engage online So earlier on people just used the internet to discover homes online but now people are largely using you know portals such as us and And tools such as even 3d walkthroughs and drone shoots to actually shortlist homes And only go to the site when they actually want to buy homes So the whole sector has digitized And along with that one of the things which you have seen is the rapid growth of adjacent industries. So for example During the pandemic We launched the parent product and we launched like online tenant agreements and tenant qualifications So all those services have gathered steam and picked up pace So overall it it looks to us like it's going to be a very exciting time for now on So far the real estate space is concerned Yeah, so, you know with with three very unique brand perspective. I am looking to Siddharth To add in from a media agency efforts standpoint a few Given that using media in a very agile fashion had been also a very critical part of the ecosystem during all this while Yeah, so definitely and hello everyone What we saw was that You know last decade was defined by brands adopting search and social as two main channels for digital And of course branding was Is also being done on digital but TV and print where The biggest mediums as well and of course all the mediums will continue. But as every Panelist has been saying Digitization has increased quite a lot and we have seen a compression And that's exactly what we saw as well And just a bit about our company. So we focus a lot on programmatic display and video powered by data and data science capabilities and what we are seeing is that Display and video is being adopted by brands in a very very big way. Pandemic actually really have their business in a big way because Data powered display and video is something which brands are looking at to grow their upper funnel and bid funnel and then grow their brand and as consumers digital touch points have increased as well You know, all these channels have become very very relevant and the exploration has really happened and another very interesting You know information from me is that We launched our business in India entirely during covid and we have grown entirely during covid So we actually don't know how without covid how our business looks like I'm looking forward to post pandemic world and we'll actually know All the clients all the agency partners. We have Acquired or we have gotten to partnership with are all through vcs like this. So we are a completely Digital first pandemic first business. Of course, we are in multinational company But the India business has been built completely during pandemic time Well, thanks for bringing in the link. So that's beautifully for my next question Because I was just shifting gears to entrepreneurship, which was another thing that went into hyperdrive during all this fire, right? While we're talking about a lot of industries between non essential and essential We saw the hyperdrive way. We saw both at individual levers and also in terms of product diversification A lot of things just, you know, starting or disrupting right from scratch So, uh, if given given we have like this power pack, you know Ideation group, what would be some of the things that you would recommend? One there is added clutter second We are saying that we are moving away from say aspirational or, you know, the brand affinity To talk about these terms in the you know, in the context of image association and we're now shifting gears to sustainability We are now shifting gears to more kindness empathy transparency and Ashish spoke about, you know combating Combating the trust issues that pandemics sort of brought with it for for for their industry So what is it that, you know, we can give to the entrepreneurs were starting from the scratch in digital first Space largely with the focus. So in no particular order, I'm definitely looking to sigh money Looking at your stories Coming in, you know, how the journey has been while building your brands Sai, would you like to go first? So, I think a very, very good question and Also Very good point that Ashish has said upon the fact that, you know, how important it was to build trust for pandemics And, you know, a lot of times When we kind of start out The entire communication and entire marketing effort is Is to kind of, you know, ensure that The product benefits come out and and we get to talking about those But the classical terminology of marketing This will be trust, affinity, building Building preference for the brand Those basics will never change and even if some of the brands kind of, you know Take a different route, they usually come back By coming back to the point of, you know, starting out digital first brand Well, I've been with the customer for the past seven years and that's when That's when the customer started in 2014 So, I know for a fact that, you know, you should challenge us How we used to have, like, you know, less of funds And we need to build the brand But what are starting points was very, very simple That we need to solve a simple consumer problem There is a consumer who is looking for a lending product And there are banks which are lending to them And in between what is our role Our role was very simple But you know, can we simplify this process for them? Which is create a platform Which simplifies, A, de-governises the financial products to the consumer B, create a platform where a consumer can Some simply compare each and every product And apply for a loan or a credit card or a home loan or any other product And create an endless, seamless, endless process for the consumer So that was starting point, which is, can we simplify this process for them? And while starting out, I clearly remember that, you know, it was always We always used to discuss which route You know, I always used to use the example that DERP itself, for the longest time, their communication was, you know, Which was a code for the product benefit And it took a long time for them to come up with an interacting campaign called DERP And therefore, you know, it is a higher order benefit So we always used to have this debate about, you know, should we go hard for, you know Sell, get instant loans or build a larger team of what we have right now Just call people to watch that So it is a journey, like, you know, usually you are more You tend to lean more towards Pushing the product benefits, which we did in the beginning Because that's what we wanted to do Which is we wanted to sell that, you know, You have to simplify your lending needs And if you apply that, you can instantly get a loan And that's where, at the back of the week, I was trying to, you know, Put all the pros and the whereabouts But as I told you, it's important to build trust also with the brand So moving ahead in the journey of our, of building a brand We also came up with a different set of communications I once thought, a lot of you worked in the entire Facebook-Vedakar campaign Which is a promise beyond just a month So it's a journey of the brand that we take, you know It's initially it's more leaning towards instant gratification And then the journey moves towards, you know, building trust and performance of work So that's a very interesting perspective of playing communication first And listening in, you know, before the product And then sort of getting an outside in perspective Do you want to weigh in our money on this? Sure, so, you know, I'll talk about whole evolution of brand and evolutionofhousing.com I think the first wave of branding was done by the founders and the initial promoters of the company Before I joined and that was a big, big bank campaign Which focused on a more bringing awareness to the market That's the brand called housing.com And it's a new company, but we're trying to do something different From what 99 acres of magic bricks is doing So that was the first phase Then as most of you would know, most people in the audience would know You know, the company, you know, went through a lot of trauma Where, you know, the founder and CEO was terminated by the investors And at that time, the company was struggling for financing and also for cash But at that point in time, you know, we had to do some branding Because, you know, from the trade side of it People were like, your competitors are branding You have 99 acres magic bricks branding You're not out there And, you know, we are hearing news in the media that housing is sort of a shutdown So we were forced to do some sort of branding We really didn't have a great audience to talk about We didn't have a great suite of products to talk about So we focused more on the fact that home buying is more an emotional decision And we tried to establish an emotional connect with the audience More likely with people in the middle and with the older age groups So that was the second phase of branding The third phase of branding was in 2019 and early part of 2020 Where we had built a great product suite We had a great audience to speak about And we were fairly clear in terms of where we wanted to go with our product suite And we also wanted to be clear about what messaging was And at that time, having built sizable audience We found that women were very strong influencers in the home buying process So the brand positioning we took was women are very strong buyers And so the ad centered largely around women So we had Kiera Advani and Vicky Kaushal who are brand ambassadors And along with that, we also focused on technology Saying that, look, we have something called smart search Where you don't need to spend too much time on the platform And you have whatever you need to get And we will match you fast with the dream home of your choice And the most recent phase of branding is when we built in We are now the market leaders in supply We are now the market leaders in demand But now we said that home buying may sound like a torturous journey To a lot of people and a lot of people need to put in a lot of effort And we showed the fact that people have to put in a lot of effort offline But we said now the market has largely come online So housing is the one place to go Whether you want to buy a house to rent a house Whether you want to look for a mower packer Whether you want to paint a house Whether you want to look for a home loan Or you want to sign a tenant agreement or pay or rent So it was kind of like a comprehensive one-stop shop For all deeds associated with home That's a very holistic way of putting it Which is one, not taking the root of hiding And in fact, we have seen in a couple of consumer studies At our end that engaging with the consumers in stress situations Just like brings in the trust many fold And that has really worked right from the onset of pandemic For the brands who have been right there Visible in front of the consumers It has sort of added that gravitas in terms of trust We move to touch points now And it's said that brand's story for a marketer Is almost something which is unfolding Through all your customer touch points And the mix of Omni Channel And the marriage between offline and online We saw some very interesting stories And a beautiful rigor from brands during pandemic Of course post-pandemic doesn't really exist But while we are at it We have seen some of the amazing work being done by brands across And I know some stories really exist over here So Ashish, do you want to talk about how it was for Swiggy And some of the initiatives from your delivery partner's perspective Sure So Isha, actually I think I'll just start off with When it came to Omni Channel I think what was the challenge there And maybe going back to trust for instance I think interestingly what's When we kind of think about what's happened Because of consumers interacting with the world Largely through digital I think the number of brands The number of advertising The number of products you kind of come across Has obviously increased a lot And hence the role that trust plays In terms of kind of like helping you kind of like choose Has increased many folders well So as in all of us use ratings The number of reviews is like default ways And in fact you're probably more comfortable Making a good choice on an e-commerce website With good ratings and review systems Than in a supermarket Where you're like where are the ratings and reviews here Right So from that standpoint I think we also realized that The role of social proof has increased a lot When it comes to digital Consumer mental models have changed a lot In terms of how they kind of like pick brands And that's something that we really kind of like Felt was powerful right So when we try to apply that in our particular case And going back to the trust deficit that consumers had A key insight for us was that When you essentially see one People around you ordering food You're like okay they're doing it So it must be alright When you see delivery partners Starting to kind of like come to your apartment building You're like okay that means they must be people ordering So I really need a break from the food I'm eating So I think I should get back to ordering So we use these insights to kind of like craft that campaign And make it Omnichannel in that sense So we had social proof that kind of like Cut across nationally through an IPA level campaign But when you came to your app You would actually see for a particular restaurant You'll have mentioned of how many people have ordered Recently to kind of like give you that level of social proof Right You see delivery partners around you obviously Branded, wearing, swiggy gear Which was under the dimension of social proof So that's how we kind of like coupled our As an inner way Omnichannel marketing strategy We aren't present in stores So not Omnichannel in the traditional way But for us that was our kata and how we took things That's very insightful Ashish Siddharth do you want to chime in And give us some examples of how we would have supported brands In the Omnichannel space Yeah so we have a very interesting case study with L'Oreal Which also recently won a very prestigious award for us So this is for the L'Oreal professional brand Who have thousands of salons affiliated with them throughout India And of course meeting during lockdowns Or even in general during pandemic You know they wanted to support their salon partners And they also wanted to of course support their consumers as well So it was a mix of various things So we have our own data management platform Where we were able to leverage some of the signals like Consumers using beauty apps Or consumers who are frequently visiting salons Or interested in beauty care and hair care and so on So mixing the signals which are there Between offline and online And then arriving at the right consumer And targeting hyper local way In the areas which are around the salons And then the other innovations which we did was that We knew that consumers are not able to easily go out But these are not the consumers who are kind of looking at purely Just from an online perspective their entire journey They need some advice They need some help in terms of choosing the right products etc So what we did was we have a very interesting technology Where we convert the best performing social posts and creatives To be used in programmatic environment and extending the reach And that can include videos etc So you know you can have some education or some interesting engagement around that And then landing those consumers into the WhatsApp business account of L'Oreal Where a beauty expert or a hair care expert would advise the consumer That okay this is your query this is how we can help you And this is the address of the nearest salon And you know the salon can then deliver the product And maybe provide some services etc So building that last mile connectivity was also a big theme in that And a very very interesting another feature which we used was that We also looked at what is the online behavior and demand pattern So like consumers searching for beauty and L'Oreal products online As well as browsing for those products What are those timings And on a real time basis increase or decrease the intensity of the campaign So that then you know when consumers are online and browsing and looking for such products We are you know reaching out to more of them And when you know basically capturing the timing And delivering the campaign at the right moment That creates another whole level of efficiencies And so yeah it was a very very successful campaign Where we were able to deliver three times better CTR Than the average which they were having They also drew a lot of business revenues out of that Which you know we cannot reveal in our case study But yeah very successful campaign which is getting repeated on a periodic basis Congratulations to you on that And that also I think has a great message on hyperlocalization And personalization in the customer experience cycle as well Further you know continuing this topic I know that we have more stories on Omni Channel Sai, do you want to talk about more the future ways of working? I know that's something close to your business I think I briefly spoke about in the beginning But you know I think for us lending companies To look at lending we go with There was an over-dependence of on physical and offline persons Like you know the KYG location Documentation, a document pickup Getting waste signatures and all of these persons Used to be pretty much While continuing to come on a platform and create To choose the bank and go into a lot of process Was still offline But post-markets when things were Blocked and still in the last eight or months There have been a remarkable progress towards Today if you look at even the largest Banks are innovating and moving process And working with syntax like us and technology providers To build an end-to-end process So even the large consumer segments Today can avail a personal credit card With a complete paperless and priceless process But having said that Truly digital would be like a level if A person is trying to apply for a loan At a unit of store or at a bank If he is offline and from there he is trying to apply For a loan or credit card Then he gets that person within a minute That's what the real value is So from where we were There was a remarkable improvement in the entire process Of getting a loan to the consumer Without paperless and priceless process Yeah, also then bringing in money To this piece as well I know there are two digital first brands That you are leading and also this PropTiger So some of the things that you saw For across brands from an offline perspective Or some thought leadership pieces I think we briefly spoke about That yesterday when we were catching up Sure, so we operate two brands Three brands are the Housing, Macan and PropTiger And being a startup we just don't have The resources to build two brands So early on in our journey Once Housing merged with the LRA Group We decided that housing.com Is going to be the consumer facing brand And PropTiger is a brokerage And till now it's been a largely An offline-facing business Though with the pandemic things are changing around So in the case of PropTiger You know, we just don't have the way With all to go and do brand marketing And also brand marketing is really not needed Also the other thing is that housing operates At the top end of the funnel Where people are searching and discovering And PropTiger is the bottom end Of the funnel where you're dealing with fulfillment So communicating like two different brand messages Is going to be very difficult So what we decided on PropTiger Was that we wanted the people That we were dealing with to really believe And trust in us And so the position that we take And that's what we do in practice Is that we work as property advisors And also the customer base That we work with on PropTiger Are the top tier developers And we never sell a product Where we are not confident that the developer Will not deliver the product So that's one piece The second on PropTiger is We've launched several online initiatives Where we talk to consumers about How important it is to do a site visit And how do you stay safe during a site visit We also have a PropGuide Right where we are very very neutral We never talk up or talk down a particular Or rather talk up a particular product Or a particular developer Because you're working with them We want to provide a very very neutral perspective On the market And also we have thought leadership So for example we publish a real insight report Which is acknowledged as the report of choice In understanding trends in various micro markets Across the country So the other thing which we do is that We focus a lot on NPS For example the NPS core of PropTiger Is about 75 to 80 And we measure the satisfaction of customers Through every touch points Every time a relationship manager talks to a customer We measure that interaction And we don't leave out a single interaction Because ultimately we want customers to kind of refer us And in fact about 30 to 35% of our business today Comes in from existing customers Referring us to other customers And that's a great way to build up an audience And build up a customer base Without having to spend or spend on it So these are the tools which we use at PropTiger To kind of position us as a trusted partner I'm summing it up I heard a lot of education and using Like being a support to the community In terms of building that brand positioning for yourself And second you NPS So I'm just taking that on And because that really gives me a spark Being a researcher So bringing in data into our scheme of things From touch points If we can also have more data driven personalization stories We saw that hyperlocalization has become like The buzzword at the moment And across sectors again We saw some very minute like detailed strategies To address to certain cohorts Right from having the correct tonality for millennials For Gen C or Gen Y At the moment to even non-metro story In terms of the tonalities and the voice that we are using So coming back to you Ashish for this Because I know that personalization is something That brings in a lot of beautiful Swiggy Winning stories So something that you did which was Hinged on data Got it So yeah I think we have a lot of fun with our data as well We use it for making important decisions But we also like to have fun with it So couple of interesting case studies I think when you think of clutter I think your email inbox is probably the most cluttered place In the world for most people And getting a brand's email to really kind of like jump out And getting the viewers to engage with that is really hard So I think two beautiful ideas And all credit to our creative team I think that we executed One was a couple of years back Appraisals were right around the corner It was like we were in season And we had an appraisal Miller go out to all consumers Which effectively had inner way or appraisal as a foodie So you got like titles Yeah I hope you all got that So yeah so that was again a very interesting way Of kind of like using personalization To make the message a lot more personalized Relevant to you and also kind of like definitely ubiquitous So that was one Then this year again we found another opportunity When the board exam results kind of like came out So we realized that these board exams Were also very different from previous ones So again we kind of like used data to As in give everyone their board exam results In a way when it comes to eating food So those are two as in pretty interesting stories And we had a lot of consumers appreciating what we did So yeah so those were two that stood out for me And again had kept to our creative team Who comes up with cool stuff like that Yeah no thanks for sharing I think they were like great branding inspirations Fun plus food Siddharth do you want to chime in and add in more From data perspectives in the consulting That you're doing for brands Yeah so I think this is something Which is going to become very big as we see In this decade is first of all The usage of the first party data And I'm using a bit of a jargon But in simple terms it's all about You know there are so many digital brands And also there are brands who might not have Digital touch points But they still have a lot of customer touch points So leveraging all your consumer touch points And understanding first of all What data you have about your consumer It could be cookie IDs, device IDs It could be email IDs, phone numbers, whichever way And then from there And of course you can do primary research as well But the point here is that Leverage all your data sources And then you can use data management platforms And other tools to further enrich that data In the right way DDPR compliant way and legal way But basically have a very very good understanding Of your consumer And just to share on this like a case study So we have a very interesting case study With a financial services company And they are they were looking at You know kind of providing the credit cards to their consumers But of course their bar was very very high And you know in in these scenarios Typically search works very well of course And I'm going to be deeper into media part as well But this will really explain what I'm trying to say And then you also want to do other channels But then those channels obviously don't give you The best of the quality And that's where the power of first party data Comes in So this what this brand did was And we help them is We help them understand who are their consumers Who are filling in the leads for their credit cards And then who are actually getting approved So what is the profile of their approvers And we looked at 500 plus data signals Which can include demographics It can include apigraphy Browsing behavior domains Contextual signals offline brand Definities and so on and so forth as well So very very rich understanding Of the consumer who is getting approved For the credit card was developed And then from there Targeting was done And that campaign outperformed all the other push channels In a very very big way So that's the power And the reason why I'm really emphasizing This is because we are getting into this decade Where brands will focus on a lot of push channels Or channels which build up the upper funnel And bid funnel And that is very important because As you want to grow your brand searches On search engine as well as as you want to grow Your direct and organic traffic This is the medium which will really help you But to do it efficiently You have to really understand your consumer And the best way to do it is Use your first party data and reach it And then take your first best step in In your push channels Push market Very well said Siddharth Also doing a quick time check As we are almost coming full circle To the close of the session almost Sai, do you want to also add in on this From a data perspective Were there any breakthrough data points That led to campaigns or brand voice ideas? So I think one specific example As you all know perhaps lending is perhaps the only Category where the seller chooses the buyer This is a lot of There's a lot of their credit profiles And there's the quality of the leading thing So it's becoming extremely important for us To create within our platform Haven't had a system wherein the buyer Actually knows which bank it is going to choose So we run this entire credit code program On a platform Which never used to exist earlier So earlier what used to happen was When a consumer used to come to a platform He used to choose a bank That's where I want to take the loan from And the bank used to go to the bank And the bank used to Six or ten times reject that person Saying that you know you have a bank Worker And at that point I still ask To open friends also They were not even aware of their friends So what we did was we kind of Built the entire Credit code on a free credit code On our platform Where in a customer's The moment he's going to come to you to tell them Hey, this is your credit code And you have a high chance of approval With XYZ Bank So now and this information also Used towards the path onto the bank In that now This customer, this is credit code And he has a high chance of approval So that kind of you know Enhance the consumer experience And also the password experience So now Where the personalization came Comes into play is that you know When So then we also added this entire picture So if you have to Take a credit code on any other platform That's stable or anywhere You have to pay For an interview But on our platform it's free So it became a free customer Accuracy strategy also for us So we used to run entire Digital campaign, TV campaigns On creating an awareness about Operate code But also what we did was When the consumer used to come on our platform Be because we had the data And the information about This digital service code We used to serve them intelligent Communication that you know Say you have a home loan running It's going on at 10.8% If you would ship to Another bank Which is at 8.5 You could save their own 10 grand Format on your On your EMI And that became a great value proposition And all of that Was coming purely from data And also How consumers could get a free approved card On our platform All these products could be freed And these kind of communication Used were able to go So the entire We ran the largest credit awareness initiatives And now a lot of others Are falling to the unknown Safety when it's on A great group So this is how we kind of you know Put the entire Engine towards Moving towards the workplace Now all these stories definitely They extended up that data is an absolute Friend for the market here Especially in a time when It's changing How we are building the brands Or how we are consuming the brands We have been an absolutely orderly group In the order and scheme of things Rejecting the energy a bit I'm bringing in a Like a summary question And sort of just like jumped in At no necessary order What would be the two favorite Bus words For each of you That you think is going to command You know the next four to five years And for brands that matter Or brands that will break the clutter You can use a word You can use a statement But like two themes Which are absolutely favorite For each of you Who wants to go first Hey, I think Product lead growth is my favorite Bus word right now I think Yeah, so I'll leave it at that But I think that's going to be very important You have to give us two Ashish Oh, okay Probably your marketing tech stack I think you can't bring a knife to a gun fight So I think that's the other So I do want to get Do you want to go next? Yeah, just to just One word would be Making your decisions on nature As we go right now You know There is a limited budget For everyone's hands So maybe on that Rather than me I can't think of right now Okay, great I stand by you Yeah Yeah, so sorry One thing is sorry One thing that we kind of Follow is that If you try hard You can measure everything That's something Yeah Money Siddharth Yeah, I'll talk about a couple of things So one is Obviously in the real estate being You know historically it's been an offline player Right so Driving innovation And in terms of new products and services And the second and the larger challenge Which is facing all of us in the industry Is improving user engagement So in real estate typically You know you're you're in the market For like let's say a three to four month period And then you probably come back to the market When you want to rent a home Or to buy a home Right so it's Not a product like Swiggy Where you probably need to use it every day So we always constantly searching for new hopes To drive user engagement In countries such as the U.S. You know where you have Zillow You have Zestimate Which is the value of the home So people for either for vanity sake Or to look at pictures of beautiful homes You know people constantly visit the site So for us it's going to be like Driving user engagement to increasingly bringing Services online that consumers can engage Very interesting money Closing comments from you Siddharth Yeah so you know I really loved this sentence If you try hard you can measure everything I really love that So I would say data driven marketing Is you know the buzzword obviously But within that there are so many dimensions Which are opening up And one of the big things which we are focusing on And we are seeing a lot of success is How do you take macro trends And look at that correlation With your brand consumer interaction And then tap into it So for example we had done a Again we have a case study with a crypto exchange Where we looked at Twitter signals And we all know that when Elon Musk talks about Any cryptocurrency The entire crypto market goes other way Or the you know the whole world Of cryptocurrency kinds of moves So those kinds of signals are very very interesting To look into and then look at your marketing And do along with that And yeah the second part I would say is From a media perspective this decade will be TV plus digital optimization would be very very interesting TV itself is transforming into digital TV Or connected TV And I think that you know from a media perspective It will be a very very fundamental But big trend which will be coming in Thank you Siddharth and thank you everybody For a very insightful session I thoroughly enjoyed it I'm sure the audience also did We talked a bunch of things But if I have to summarize the three things that stood out Were that the first was that One thing that will stay for brands that matter Is staying relevant real time And also keeping the consumers engaged With the right tonality Second thing was that measurement and data Are going to be the friend For the marketer Cross media It's across channels with content Getting the boom that is going nowhere And third the product first piece That you know a lot of us spoke about Customer experience is going to be fundamentally You know like the most important thing Even if you know like we can choose the right Brand tonality and measure it The customer experience is going to be The single most important nominator But thank you everyone I'll hand it over to you So thank you so much Isha It was an absolute pleasure to listen to the whole panel I'm really thankful to Isha of course For being the session chair Ashish, Mani, Sai, Siddharth For being so kind and joining us It was a pleasure to have you all here Thank you Thank you Thank you


Appalachian Wireless now offers Unlimited Plus with 50 gigabytes of data and no overages. And it starts at just $90 a month for the first line. Go to AppalachianWireless.com or visit a retail store for more information on Unlimited Plus. We are you. We are Appalachian Wireless. With what is being considered the most important election in U.S. history, many Floyd Countyans might be wondering when, where, and how to vote on election day this year. Chris Wall's office is the county clerk who takes care of the voting process. They've done, they've done a really good job of laying this out. Our voting is, is going to be a success. According to Floyd County judge executive Robbie Williams, many residents have already taken advantage of early in-person voting to avoid the large crowds on election day. It's worked out really well with early voting. We, I think he told me this morning we'd had almost 10, 11,000 people that's voted already. So we're not going to have that many folks that will be voting tomorrow on election day. But tomorrow we will have 18 locations. Judge Williams adds that citizens can go on the Floyd County Fiscal Court's Facebook page to find the list of voting locations and precincts. But to increase convenience during the pandemic, voters can cast their ballots at any location within the county they reside. So let's say you're late getting off work, you're coming from Pikeville, you live in David, you come through Betsy Lane, you stop at the Betsy Lane location to vote. So if you have received a mail-in ballot, you could still choose to vote in person instead and a system will not allow a double vote to occur. If you've requested a mail-in ballot and you have a problem with your, your absentee that you received, you can sign an affidavit at the polls and or if you didn't receive it, you can sign an affidavit at the polls. So you can't double vote the system that they have in place won't allow it. It's updated immediately, everything is into one central database, so it does, it does ensure integrity of the voting process. During this year's election, Floyd County officials are asking that voters remain patient, wear a mask and continue to practice safe social distancing amid the ongoing pandemic. Please have a mask on when you arrive and think, think of the other folks that are there voting because we will have a lot of elderly voting, but when you go in, you will check in at the, at the, at the table and they will just let a certain number of individuals actually in the polling place at a time and you'll go through the voting process. Things have changed. There's a, with the new machines that we got this year and the cards. What the clerk's office is trying to do is they're, they're trying to keep down any cross contamination as much as possible. They're constantly wiping things down for each individual. They come through. So they have processes in place to ensure that, that folks are being safe. Judge Williams says that if you have any questions or concerns, contact his office at<PHONE_NUMBER> or the Floyd County Clerk's main office at<PHONE_NUMBER>. Reporting for Mountaintop News, I'm Jeremy Justice.