Karthik S | beastoftraal.com

A big bar of chocolate, all for yourself?

January 12, 2024January 12, 2024 by Karthik S

I have a confession to make: I have never—ever—eaten a full large or medium-sized pack of chocolate in one go. No, not the 5-star kind of bar. I’m referring to the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk kind of chocolate bar that has indentations on…

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The 10 best Indian ads of 2023

January 2, 2024January 12, 2024 by Karthik S

Year 3 of making this list. Here’s the list from 2021 and 2022. As usual, the caveat stays: this list is not about *effectiveness* since that data would be available only to the brand managers (and advertising/media buying agencies). Also, effectiveness is…

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Stanley and Samsonite – the pros and cons of freebie PR

November 28, 2023November 28, 2023 by Karthik S

A PR effort by Stanley, the maker of cups, bottles, and tumblers went massively viral recently. Here’s what happened: Danielle’s car (a KIA, as we can see from the video) caught fire and she posted a short video of the burnt car…

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Deepavali 2023 in Indian advertising

November 23, 2023November 25, 2023 by Karthik S

The closest in India that comes to the Western world’s Christmas-related advertising scene is the Deepavali/Diwali-related advertising. Unlike IPL—the other major advertising jamboree, but one that requires working officially with BCCI to talk about, in a branded context—Deepavali is an open festival…

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Google Pixel x Mr. India: Exciting idea, perfunctory execution

November 8, 2023November 8, 2023 by Karthik S

I found the Pixel 8 campaign from Google (agency: FCB Group) with Anil Kapoor reprising his role as Mr. India to be interesting enough, but not as exciting as I assumed it would be. The idea of officially using the Mr. India…

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Arya and the missing caramel custard

October 26, 2023October 26, 2023 by Karthik S

If you have been watching the Cricket World Cup 2023 (CWC2023) matches, I’m fairly sure you may remember this PhonePe ad – watch: Almost anyone who watches the ad for the first time has an opinion… not about PhonePe being interoperable with…

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An idea to power your personal brand’s content game

October 19, 2023October 19, 2023 by Karthik S

During my corporate personal branding workshops, after I set the premise on the need for personal branding, the need and process of defining one’s own personal brand, and the basics of content to power the brand narrative, most participants faced a stumbling…

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