Dense commentary on social media, PR, marketing, advertising and branding.
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…
Two Indian lighting brands have launched new campaigns with identical themes at the same time! They have been created by two different agencies, obviously. Surya Roshni’s campaign, by Ogilvy, has the theme, ‘Sabko Mood Mein Le Aaye’. It features Shankar Mahadevan who…
Back in 2017, Pepsi launched a new ad featuring Kendall Jenner. The ad had Jenner come out of a photoshoot to see a demonstration happening on the road, joining that crowd, pick up a chilled can of Pepsi from a well-stocked cooler,…
There is a lot of buzz around the bindi, or the lack of it, recently. Before I explain the current buzz, I should add that I have been conscripted into a ‘bindi-related’ misinformation campaign last year. Here is that issue: Do not…
Back in October 2019, Wieden + Kennedy Shanghai launched the first campaign for HP’s Omen range of gaming PCs. The core thought behind the campaign was that gaming is good for your brain! This was intended to tackle societal belief in China…
How did we talk to brands before social media? We called them via telephones – this seems quaint now!We emailed them – this seems slow now!We chatted with them via online chat tools – I still do this, with Amazon. What happens…
We usually let our occupation define us to the outside world. ‘I’m a project manager’.‘I’m a vice president’.‘I’m a chartered accountant. How do we define ourselves inside us? Could we let our preoccupation define us internally? Let me explain. Owing to my…