Karthik S | beastoftraal.com

“Will I get in trouble if I share this online?”

February 15, 2022February 15, 2022 by Karthik S

A decade ago, while I was traveling back from Mumbai to Bengaluru after a work trip, I got a call from my boss (the India head) while I was in a cab (from the airport). He told me that the regional office…

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The imprecise framing of Cadbury Silk’s secret messages

February 14, 2022February 14, 2022 by Karthik S

When I first saw this new AR (Augmented Reality) activation by Cadbury Silk for Valentine’s Day 2022, I did not get it. The idea is by Cadbury’s agency in India, Ogilvy. Teen romances are frowned upon in India? Yes, of course. This,…

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Spotify’s botched PR move on the JRE controversy

February 11, 2022February 11, 2022 by Karthik S

To be sure, anyone can host a podcast on Spotify. It’s just like uploading a video on YouTube – just that, instead of actually hosting your audio content the way you upload your video content to YouTube, you’d essentially be only giving…

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Reverse storytelling in advertising

February 10, 2022February 10, 2022 by Karthik S

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward“, is a famous quote by Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. I discovered this thought-provoking quote while reading Blake Crouch’s novel, Recursion. That thought may be apt for life, but what about…

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Listening to our own bodies, via machines

February 9, 2022February 9, 2022 by Karthik S

It was exactly 7 years ago that I first tried a fitness band. I had won a GOQii band at the WPP Stream India event in Jaipur (that I first attended while at Ogilvy) and till then I had no inclination to…

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Unusual brand partnerships

February 8, 2022February 8, 2022 by Karthik S

I have been tracking brand partnerships over the last 2+ years, particularly those that seem necessitated by prevailing conditions around the world, and those that are not about the pandemic. The pandemic has heightened our sense of hygiene and cleanliness, and this…

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Subscription fatigue, and a twist in Netflix’s subscription plans

February 7, 2022February 7, 2022 by Karthik S

Netflix’s quarterly results announcement seems to be the trigger for the occasional opinion pieces on ‘subscription fatigue’. Every time the streaming platform’s expected new subscriber additions are less than the actual sign-ups, these articles pontificate if there is subscription fatigue among users…

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