Karthik S | beastoftraal.com

The framing problem in adding EV charging to existing fuel stations

November 15, 2021 by Karthik S

Both Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) have announced, in the first week of November 2021, their intent to add electric vehicle charging stations in their existing fuel stations. Bharat Petroleum intends to add EV charging stations at 7,000 of its existing…

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The once-regular column now missing from our newspapers

November 12, 2021 by Karthik S

Last week, on Deepavali day, I wanted to check if Sun TV was indeed airing the new Tamil movie ‘Doctor’ as a special movie (a long-held festive tradition by many Tamil TV channels that air a brand new movie in the evening)….

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When mocking cliched Diwali ads became a cliche

November 10, 2021 by Karthik S

Can mocking cliches end up being cliched? It did, this Diwali! Let me start in reverse. On November 1st, DIZO, the sub-brand of Realme launched its Diwali 2021 ad film. Created by the agency White Rivers Media, the ad’s idea was to…

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Advertising narratives: ‘safely obtuse’ vs. ‘outrage-worthy obtuse’

November 9, 2021 by Karthik S

Related reading:1. The bindi factor in Indian advertising2. Indian advertising: Submit to my world-view, or else… There are advertising narratives that are called ‘obtuse’, in response to a question that goes “How has marketing during the festive times evolved over time?” (by…

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Misdirection as a narrative device in advertising

November 8, 2021 by Karthik S

Two new ad campaigns use a classic advertising misdirection to force a particular imagery first, only to change it entirely to make a contextual point. Take a look at the series from Petco, the pet food company, made by the agency Droga5….

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Indian advertising: Submit to my world-view, or else…

November 3, 2021 by Karthik S

Note: An abridged version of this post appeared in The Hindu, today (November 3, 2021). See at the end of this post. “An Indian woman, without sporting a bindi, wearing Western clothing, is seen dancing unabashedly in public to celebrate her boyfriend’s…

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Embracing patience

October 28, 2021 by Karthik S

We are at the age of 15-minute grocery delivery. We need/want everything as soon as possible. And brands comply to create businesses around making that happen and feed into our endless instant needs and wants. Imagine something, and you have the means…

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