Karthik S | beastoftraal.com

The new layoff communication trend by CEOs: “I take responsibility”

January 30, 2023January 30, 2023 by Karthik S

Back in August 2022, Braden Wallake, the CEO of social networking companies Hyper Social and Hyper Sphere, shared a LinkedIn post with a photo of him crying. The post was about the companies laying off people and it starts with, “This will…

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Attention to detail to power narrative devices

January 27, 2023January 27, 2023 by Karthik S

Back in January 2018, Ogilvy had done an outstanding ad film for Asian Paints. It was called ‘Homes Not Showrooms’ and it followed an old father going around his son’s new home along with his grandson, trying to do something on the…

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The charm of a personal apology

January 25, 2023January 25, 2023 by Karthik S

Andrew Benin is the 35-year-old chief executive and co-founder of Graza, an olive oil brand that comes in a squeezy tube (unlike bottles). He made news recently in the Wall Street Journal for an apology! Wall Street Journal, on January 14, 2023…

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A world-first branding win by Britannia?

January 23, 2023January 23, 2023 by Karthik S

Take a look at some of these classic (meaning: 1980s) ads. Britannia Marie, 1981 Britannia Bourbon, 1985 Britannia Good Day, 1989 And then, take a look at some of these newer ads. Britannia 50-50 Maska Chaska, 2014 Britannia Jim Jam, 2014 From…

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Reactions of people in ads and social status

January 18, 2023January 18, 2023 by Karthik S

Have you closely observed how people (actors) react in advertisements? Take a basic example: McDonald’s. Most McDonald’s ads have someone r-e-a-l-l-y enjoying their burger, slurping… tongue out to lick some sauce, and so on. Considering I love McDonald’s paneer burger, I quite…

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The most resilient, contagious parasite

January 16, 2023October 24, 2024 by Karthik S

A famous dialog in an early scene in Christopher Nolan’s Inception goes, “What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient… highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain, it’s almost impossible to…

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Deep pockets

January 13, 2023January 13, 2023 by Karthik S

Whenever I’m out and sit down somewhere, I consciously remove my wallet from the back pocket of my jeans (which is what I wear invariably, having completely given up wearing formal trousers since I quit full-time employment in 2018) and keep it…

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