Dense commentary on social media, PR, marketing, advertising and branding.
As a kid growing up in Bhubaneswar, Bhopal and Srirangam (near Trichy) in the 80s, my playtime included playing street cricket, bringing home stray puppies and cats and feeding them, watching Doordarshan and reading a LOT of comics and children’s books. I…
Originally published in Brand Equity (The Economic Times), February 5, 2020. When Manu Kumar Jain (Managing Director of Xiaomi India) Madhav Sheth (Realme India CEO) and C Manmohan (General Manager of POCO India) stumble upon each other in an event, how do…
I have a feeling I have been seeing a LOT of news about Vakrangee in the past one week. It was on 28th January (Tuesday), and again, today, in ET. Also on January 29th, in Moneycontrol. The interesting connecting point between all…
In August last year, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of UK banned 2 TV advertisements made for Philadelphia, the Mondelez-owned cream cheese brand and Volkswagen. The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) offers guidance to ASA. Using the CAP guidelines, people could complain…
On January 22nd, Big Bazaar released full-page (and front-page) ads in The Times of India for their Republic Day sale. It was a multi-edition advertising blitzkrieg as usual, but some of the nuances are worth observing and pondering about. I opened my…
I’m not a fan of worldly, philosophical gyan on social media and I do not offer those ever. And I’m aware that the following may sound like one, but I hope to clarify by the end of this post that it is…
Does Durex offer better ‘protection’ than Delhi Police? That’s what the very, very viral meme claims and it went viral for a reason. It is topical, makes a point (whether you agree with it or not is a different topic) and makes…