Dense commentary on social media, PR, marketing, advertising and branding.
Yet another so-called ‘viral marketing’ campaign that uses a blatant lie as its main, cost-free tool. Yes, the latest YesMadam campaign follows the spectacular misfire by the agency Schbang and Poonam Pandey earlier this year. I had written about why that campaign…
A couple of months ago, I got a WhatsApp forward titled ‘Permanent Address’. It had the ‘Forwarded many times’ tag, implying that it had truly gone places. It’s a poignant exploration of our relentless interest in building a home at great cost…
So much has been said and written about how we could use AI in assorted tasks. But let me turn that focus away from using and towards reacting. How should we react to AI when we come across its usage? Allow me…
The new Nike ad (“Winning isn’t for everyone”, made by the agency Wieden+Kennedy) seems to stir a lot of reactions in anyone who sees it once. The full text of the voice-over in the video:“Am I a bad person?Tell me. Am I?I’m…
One of the most basic lessons I learnt in my PR days (across both client-side corporate communications and agency-side public relations) is ‘do not repeat the negative’. There is ample reason for this. And all those reasons lead to a simple human…
By now, everyone has denounced that abominable print ad by Bombay Shaving Company (BSC)/Bombae that the brand released on the back page (not the front page, as many have mistakenly pointed out) of HT City, Hindustan Times’ city supplement in Mumbai, on…
Employee advocacy is a big deal for most consumer-facing companies. I know this first-hand since I have worked on employee advocacy programs—either to kickstart one, or to plan to the strategy of an existing program—during my agency days. When I quit 9-to-5…