Last weekend, I got a chance to take part in an audio event to discuss ‘The Changing Landscape of branding’. Here are some points which I attempted to elaborate and a few others which struck me as relevant later: Branding: what is it? Over the years, I have heard the term branding being used in different contexts. When a client says ‘branding is weak’ it could mean that they fear that the viewer may not…
Air India revealed its new logo and livery earlier this week. The change is anchored on the ‘window of opportunity’…
I have been out of ad agency life for over 10 years now. As a consumer and as a mere…
Apple has doubled down on promoting privacy on the iPhone for years now. The benefit presented is in contrast to the Google ecosystem where advertising revenue garnered through user’s personal data is the business model. A new ad dramatises the pitfalls of the ‘other’ ecosystem in the context of health data. Privacy on the iPhone: the Waiting Room It’s quite likely that we all must have witnessed an instance of data ‘tracking’ us across the…
Jingles have been part of advertising for decades. When done well, they have the potential to create a memory hook…
Ask an average 25-year old advertising or marketing professional in India if they have heard of Ravi Gupta, Mohammed Khan,…
An overdose of anything is not good. Does that apply to the amount of what passes of as ‘content’ put out by brands too? The word content can refer to any piece of paid or unpaid creative across platforms: TV commercials, print ads, YouTube videos, Reels & Shorts, social media posts, blogs, WhatsApp campaigns, webinars, videos culled from such events…and so on. ‘A content piece a day’ seems to be the norm. There was a…
In the late 1980s, political scientist Joseph Nye Jr. coined the term soft power. He defined it as it as…
In my advertising career, I have not launched or grown an ad agency brand from scratch. So I am no…
The business of marketing & advertising is about persuasion. Brands aim to persuade consumers to change perceptions, switch brands or change habits. The various teams which make it all happen, have to persuade colleagues, seniors and partners into buying their ideas and recommendations. Such persuasion can happen through the written word (an email or memo) or talking one’s way through at meetings, discussions or through a formal presentation. When I started off in advertising, formal…